THE DRUG PROBLEM IN GOLDEN

What is the Detachment doing about the Drug problem?

There were a lot of comments in the survey that wanted to know what
the Detachment is doing about the drug problem in Golden.

Here are some examples of the comments:

"Golden is a major drug center and trade route and is now being
overrun by killer drugs brought in by dangerous gangs. Why is there
not a Drug Unit here?"

"Drug enforcement in school."

"Stop wasting energies on small time pot users and growers and more
energy into more alcohol abuse control. Concentrate busting hard drug
users and dealers."

"A strong presence in the fight against drugs."

"Get the dealers one way or another. At least make it difficult for
them. Close the homes where they are selling."

I will attempt to do my best at answering all the comments. When it
comes to the drug problem the community of Golden is no different
from any other community in Canada. One of the priorities identified
by community members was the concern of alcohol and drug abuse. The
detachment is tackling this priority on two fronts; education and enforcement.

The education has to come from home and in our schools. We start in
the elementary grades. We have had over several years the D.A.R.E.
program. This program teaches our children how to handle peer
pressure when our youths are confronted with temptations whether it
be alcohol, tobacco or drugs. Golden Detachment has one member
trained to teach this program and a second officer is to be trained this year.

As one of the Drug Awareness officers I enjoy going into the high
school to pass on my knowledge in regards to drug abuse and I enjoy
debating with the kids. The goal in these sessions is simply to pass
on some facts and discuss choices we are forced to make. We have some
interesting discussions. The high school and community members work
together in bringing in people to discuss drug issues. Last year a
panel of speakers including a past meth addict spoke to students and
parents. This was well received.

We also deal with drinking and driving risks with our youths in the schools.

In the last year we have had good success in arrests and seizures in
large quantities of Marihuana and Cocaine. The grow ops were large
commercial operations and we are now placing seizure orders on the
houses which prevents the owners from selling the house until the
court deals with the charges. One large grow op that was ongoing was
in Donald and charges are pending in that case. The Detachment also
recently seized a large quantity of cocaine destined for Golden. We
are also involving Children and Family when we are investigating drug
activities where children are in the house exposed to the many
dangers involved in the drug trade. I have been in grow ops where
electrical plugs are in water and pesticides are all over the house.
There is also the danger of home invasions where weapons and threats
of violence are common. Some people are quite willing to expose
children to the numerous risks. Even knowing that we have full intent
on removing children from these situations the risk to many seems to
indicate it is a worthwhile risk.

The Trans Canada Highway is a major drug route and the Traffic unit
is involved in a number of Drug interdiction seizures where large
quantities of drug and money are seized. Golden Detachment will have
in the near future a drug dog and handler that will be assisting the
Traffic unit on the highway as well as the General Duty Detachment
Members in Golden.

As for closing the homes we have to work within the powers that the
law allows. We can be creative in causing as much grief as we can
within the law to make life uncomfortable for those that wish to
traffic drugs in our community.

As for a Drug unit being in Golden, that will not happen. When the
Detachment has all eight Members working it is my thought to have one
Member dedicated to drug/serious crimes. There are advantages and
disadvantages to taking one Member out of the uniform work in a small
Detachment but I would like to experiment with this and see what the
results are. I do support the return of a drug unit back into the
Kootenay area. That unit was moved to Kelowna many years ago.
Detachment Members are receiving additional training to develop tools
and experience to deal with drug investigations.

In regards to the comment about small time drug users and small grow
operations, I would comment that some of our bigger cases start with
the arrest of the small time users and dealers. Any grow operation
investigations that I have investigated are growing for the purpose
of trafficking. We will target all grow operations regardless of their size.

There are a number of ways that the police get their information. If
you have information we can be contacted through Crime Stoppers or a
phone call where you don't have to provide your name. A great deal of
work has to be done before the police can take any action or have a
Justice of the Peace grant a Search Warrant. I know that there is
some frustration in that we are provided information and the
expectation is to take immediate action in an arrest or executing a
search warrant. Recently we had a couple of young adults die as a
result of a drug overdose or death complicated by the use of drugs.

When these incidents have happened there is an outcry from many
people who happen to be in the know and we get a number of calls. The
shock of the loss of a friend seems to wear off and the calls stop
coming in. The more information we have the more we can work with.
This is not just a police problem to solve, it is a community problem
and the community has to share in the solution. This is through your
effort with continued education as we have seen in the community and
providing us with information.

I hope I have addressed some of the concerns brought forward in the
recent survey.

Sgt. Marko Shehovac

Golden/Field Detachment