Straits Area Narcotics Enforcement fights war against drugs
CHEBOYGAN, MI -- It’s a band of undercover officers working to clean up your streets.
The Straits Area Narcotics Enforcement team works day and night to put a stop to the Northern Michigan drug war.
The task force leader says it's a never-ending battle, but they're seeing results.
Who are the undercover officers who make up the Straits Area Narcotics Enforcement or SANE team? It's a question only a few know. It very well could be this man reading the newspaper, or this guy standing by his truck. What we do know is there are 11 of them out there, covert, working to clean your streets.
"Whether it's an undercover role or surveillance capacity, everybody has a role," said Det. Lt. Ken Mills.
Mills, the Unit Commander of SANE, says the roles give the task force an upper hand.
"In the more rural areas, departments aren't able to do that quite so well, so it's a great resource when you're able to have a, part of this team, that brings in 11 sworn officers, a prosecutor, to come in and do the work," said Mills
Mills says SANE has cracked down on drugs. A few years ago, they infiltrated the cocaine market in Northern Michigan. They made several arrests, and say now, numbers haven't been as high. The big priorities right now are prescription drugs and Meth in the region.
"We've seen an increase in Methamphetamine labs this year. It started last November, where we had a meth lab here in Cheboygan County, and since, we've had six more labs," said Mills.
SANE is beneficial by going undercover or covert to help get drugs off the street, but they also help local law enforcement out. They're another leg to Law Enforcement in tough economic times.
"It is another tool we have in our arsenal to combat this drug war and at the same time, it's a very economical way to do it," said Cheboygan Sheriff Dale Clarmont.
Cheboygan County has an officer that works undercover with SANE. Sheriff Dale Clarmont says this officer will come back with tools that would take 20 years to obtain as a regular deputy.
"It's a good investment for their departments and their communities," said Mills.
Last week, SANE did an aerial search for Marijuana plants in the region, and found several.
So far this year, they have seized about 700 Marijuana plants---that's up from a total of 200 last year.
One thing that they say this can be attributable to is good summer weather along with Medical Marijuana growers just not knowing the right laws.
