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| Abingdon Wages War on Drugs |
The chief of police in Abingdon says the department is making some substantial drug arrests, and that's sending a message to both dealers and users.
Fred Andrews says the city has a drug problem, and statistics compiled by the police department indicate the officers on patrol are making a lot of arrests and getting a lot of illicit items off the streets. Andrews shared a report covering a three-month period with the city council Monday night that shows the department took 208 reports and made 75 total arrests, 15 of which were for drugs.
There were 28 warrant arrests, and 8 of the arrests were felony charges. Andrews tells WGIL traffic stops are resulting in some surprising finds and serious charges for the offenders. "We're finding more of the (drug) product in vehicles," Andrews said. "More meth, more marijuana. We stopped a young man with a warrant -- had a half pound of marijuana on him. We pulled over a car for a light out; found a meth lab in the car. We're making more stops, and we're finding more of the product and more of the drug dealers and users."
Andrews says another problem is people possessing and abusing medications that are not prescribed for them. He says the primary offenders are young people, and the medications include antidepressants and pain killers like vicoden and oxycontin.
Andrews credits the public for providing information that sometimes leads to the drug-related arrests, and he says the police department is also working with other law enforcement agencies in hopes that drug dealers will think twice before coming to Abingdon.
(Note: All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.) |
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| 02 03 09 by Newsroom |
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