Green Bay police say someone mailed cocaine, fentanyl to Police Chief Chris Davis
Doug Schneider
GREEN BAY - The sender didn't leave a return address — which was expected, considering the item Green Bay Police Chief Chris Davis received in the mail Tuesday included fentanyl and cocaine, along with a letter.
Green Bay police on Thursday were investigating the mailing, which "got the drugs off the streets," but created danger for the assistant who handled Davis' mail on the day it arrived at 307 S. Adams St.
Police aren't saying what the letter said.
Officers plan to incinerate the drugs — about 3 grams of suspected fentanyl and about 0.8 ounce of cocaine contained in plastic bags Davis said were "intact." Officers conducted a lab analysis to learn what substances they were dealing with.
It's unclear why the person who put the drugs in the mail did so. Davis said there was no threatening letter accompanying the mailing, but it was not immediately clear to police why the drugs were sent to Davis.
“We get lots of correspondence from the community here in the chief’s office, but this is the first time anyone has ever sent us drugs," Davis said, adding, "It probably should go without saying, but please don’t send us drugs in the mail.”
Davis said the department is equipped to dispose of drugs — incineration is how many departments do so — but asks that people leave prescription drugs in a drop box in the department's lobby. Someone who wants to dispose of an illegal substance — such as a dog-walker who finds a bag containing a powdery substance in a park or a parent who found something suspicious in a teenager's room — is asked to make a non-emergency call to the department (920-448-3205) and ask to have an officer sent to collect the material safely.
In some cases, Davis said, officers will use rubber gloves or similar basic equipment to reduce the risk a small amount of the drug could be transferred to something else that's being handled, like food. People handling fentanyl, for example, are told to wear rubber gloves until they're done handling the material, then remove the gloves before beginning another task.
An officer handling suspected fentanyl, for example, will wear gloves to avoid having skin contact with the synthetic opioid. He or she might also wear facial protection if there is worry about dust possibly being inhaled.
Email Doug Schneider at DSchneid@gannett.com, call him at (920) 265-2070 and follow him on Twitter @PGDougSchneider