Narcotics Unit Getting Word Out

The Amarillo Police Department Narcotics Unit is getting the word out.
"We'll let the dopers know they won't be tolerated," said APD Sgt.
Brent Clay.

The narcotics unit is dedicated to drug enforcement inside Amarillo in
the wake of the recent breakup of the Panhandle Regional Narcotics
Trafficking Task Force.

"We're just tired of all the negative publicity," Clay said, referring
to the Tulia case.

One way to create "good news" is to fax press releases to local media
outlets every time the unit makes a drug bust in Amarillo, he said.

The strategy seems to be working.

A bust on Wednesday in the 5000 block of South Bowie Street led to two
arrests and netted about $1,000 worth of drugs.

That may not be big stuff, but the move garnered coverage on
television as grateful neighbors declared the arrests freed the area
from a scourge of alleged drug activity.

A bust in the 4300 block of Ridgecrest Circle on Tuesday ended with
two suspects in custody and about $2,000 worth of drugs seized.