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Story Archives: Concordia Narcotics Task Force logs 190 arrests in 2008
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Concordia Narcotics Task Force logs 190 arrests in 2008
The Concordia Narcotics Task Force logged 190 arrests in 2008, with those individuals committing a total of 307 offenses, according to a recent Task Force report.
A total of 120 offenders were male, as compared to only 35 females.
Of the 190 arrests, 155 were for narcotics, and 35 were non-narcotics related. Of the narcotics arrests, 114 were for possession charges, nine were for distribution, 31 were for possession with the intent to distribute, and one was for manufacturing illegal drugs.
"Our Narcotics Task Force continues its efforts day-in and day-out to wage the war on drugs in this parish," noted Sheriff Randy Maxwell. "Not only do they work exceedingly long, difficult hours in this parish, but they're consistently called upon to help other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies with undercover investigations in other parishes."
According to the report, 37.5 percent of those 307 offenses involved the possession of drugs only and 4.6 percent of them were for the possession of just drug paraphernalia. The combination of the two -- possession of both drugs and paraphernalia ñ accounted for 44.6 percent of the 307 actual offenses.
Seven percent of the 307 offenses involved suspects having drugs and weapons in their possession, while 12.7 percent had all three -- drugs, weapons and drug paraphernalia -- an 8.2 percent increase from 2007.
Not surprisingly, an overwhelming majority of those offenders -- 79.1 percent - committing those 307 crimes have prior criminal histories.
"It's a concrete fact -- drug users will be in and out of the judicial system many times over. Their crimes may vary from misdemeanors to felonies, but they're going to keep committing them to either to pay for their habit or simply because they're high on drugs to begin with," Maxwell added. "It would be an oversimplification to call it a vicious cycle," he said. "It's a deep problem that affects many, many families and criss-crosses our entire society."
A further breakdown of the 2008 figures shows that the majority of drugs arrests (78) were made in the Ferriday area and those arrests accounted for 150 total offenses. There were 49 arrests in the Vidalia region, accounting for 86 separate criminal charges.
Twenty-two arrests came from the Monterey area, with 52 offenses stemming from those arrests.
The Task Force seized more marijuana than any other illegal narcotic, followed by the prescription narcotic Xanax, cocaine and crack cocaine and Ecstasy. The estimated street value of all drugs seized during the year was $9,305. They additionally seized 19 weapons during the 12-month time frame. |
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