Sheriff's Office Announces Narcotics Unit Merger/Results
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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DATE: May 13, 2014
BY: Sheriff Tom Dalbec
dalbect@ci.superior.wi.us
715-395-1532
SUBJECT: Sheriff Announces SO/PD Narcotics Unit Merger and 1st quarter results
After months of discussion and planning, the narcotics units of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and the Superior Police Department now operate as one.
Formerly, the units worked out of the same office space, but maintained separate structure, supervision, cases, funds, etc. This would sometimes result in poor communication and duplicate efforts.
A joint powers agreement went into effect January 1, 2014 bringing the two units together under one umbrella. The unit operates as a quasi-task force under the direction of Sheriff's Sergeant James Madden. While it's been somewhat challenging implementing changes to policies and procedures, much progress has been made. Report writing and routing, accounting procedures, management and documentation are all things that have been improved upon. The District Attorney's office finds it much easier to have one point of contact rather than four or five.
If first quarter numbers are any indication, the merger has been a success. A case initiated by the unit has become a multi-state investigation and has thus far resulted in the federal indictments of three individuals and the seizure of approximately 7 pounds of methamphetamine.
The unit also reports 25 other arrests in that time period resulting in 52 felony charges and 8 misdemeanor charges. Drug seizures include methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin, psilocybin, hydrocodone, and oxycodone with a street value in excess of $510,000. Cash seized from local drug dealers was in excess of $100,000. That's half a million dollars of drugs that won't be polluting our streets. That's half a million dollars worth of your stuff that won't be stolen to fuel somebody's drug habit. And that's a hundred thousand ill-gotten dollars that dealers won't have available to import more drugs.
While these exceptional numbers may have been effected by one large case, we believe that with continued leadership and cooperative efforts, the unit can continue to make a positive impact for the community.
