Sheriff says violent crimes task force’s 171 arrests cut down on drug overdoses
Melissa GregoryA new violent crime task force has started operating in the region, netting 171 arrests over a four-day period.
Rapides Parish Sheriff Mark Wood said Tuesday that a check with the Alexandria Fire Department on its calls for overdoses during that period found the department responded to just one the week after the operation.
Usually, it's six to eight overdoses per week, he said, which tells him the team already is making a difference.
The Central Louisiana Violent Crimes Abatement Team (VCAT) was formed a few months ago after local law enforcement leaders were approached by state and federal officials about the possibility of working together.
Wood was supportive.
"Any tool we can use to get there, to help us keep our people and citizens safe in our area, we're gonna do it," he said at a press conference that announced the unit and its first results.
"This is the tip of the iceberg. We're just getting started."
He said there were more than 120 officers present on the night the team had its first briefing.
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Of the 171 people arrested during the first operation, there were 140 drug charges, 28 weapons charges, 15 probation violations, 57 other felony charges and 38 misdemeanor charges, according to Louisiana State Police and information distributed at the press conference.
Thirty-one weapons were confiscated, four search warrants were served and more than $5,000 seized. Multiple types of illegal drugs also were recovered, including 2 gallons of PCP and more than 200 grams of fentanyl, which is just over 7 ounces.
Wood remarked that it had been years since he'd seen PCP confiscated, calling it "a good hit."
Those arrested now will move into the prosecution phase. And Rapides Parish District Attorney Phillip Terrell said cooperation between agencies could mean longer prison sentences for some.
Terrell stood with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamilla Bynog, whom he called "instrumental" in bringing the team together. He said cases are being handled a new way so that defendants might be tried on federal and state charges so they can "put these bad guys, these dangerous people away for a longer period of time."
He called it unprecedented to see such cooperation between different levels of government, something Bynog echoed.
"This operation is just proof of what we've known for a very long time," she said. "When you consolidate your law enforcement efforts, violent crime comes down. Drug offenses come down. Guns come off of the street."
The agencies comprising the team are:
- FBI
- U.S. Department of Justice
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
- Louisiana State Police
- Louisiana Probation and Parole
- Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office
- Rapides Parish District Attorney's Office
- Grant Parish Sheriff's Office
- Natchitoches Parish Sheriff's Office
- Alexandria Police Department
- Natchitoches Police Department
Those agencies are being assisted by:
- Alexandria City Marshal's Office
- Ball Police Department
- Boyce Police Department
- Lecompte Police Department
- Louisiana National Guard Counter-Drug Program
- Pineville Police Department
- Pineville City Marshal's Office
- Sabine Parish Sheriff's Office
- Woodworth Police Department