Drug trafficking enforcement: 'We're trying to reach a new era'

WALLACE — Idaho’s no-tolerance drug policy has earned it nicknames for those running drugs across state borders, “the fatal funnel” and “iron curtain” being among them.

While small drug busts are common in many communities, Seth Green, patrol captain for Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office, said that the trend of drug trafficking arrests in recent weeks is something the department hopes to continue in a crackdown on drugs moving through the area.

“We’ve been trying to send the message out that we’re trying to reach a new era. This I-90 corridor is 72, 73 miles, I’ve gotten hundreds of traffickers through the years and now my people, at this stage, have gotten quite a few,” Green said.

Green said that the pattern in drug movement has been the same for a long time. Drug traffickers travel to states with more lenient drug laws, purchase a large quantity of drug, and then bring them back to their communities for “incredibly increased profits,” while unloading some of the product to neighboring communities along the way.

With a background as a K-9 officer in the state police, Green was familiar with this particular type of enforcement and has trained in how arrests of this nature need to operate in order to not interfere with an individual's Fourth Amendment constitutional rights protecting people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.

“We're just slowly getting into it to try and become a premier agency for this and protect our community a lot more. A downside is, yeah, we’re on I-90, it does bring through some of this type of traffic,” Green said.

While other counties may encounter similar opportunities to make arrests in drug cases, Green said that targeting drug trafficking can often be a niche aspect to policing in communities due to training and new approaches to gathering information about drug movements.

“It’s a really tough thing to teach, where a lot of agencies are not really focusing heavily on it, to where there really aren’t a lot of people out here doing it,” Green said.

Creating a drug task force among law enforcement in Shoshone County has also been a priority as Green has tried to institute these new practices for his patrols. With more of emphasis on cracking down on drugs, the goal is to bring down violent crime and property crime in the community.

“It takes years to become proficient at this type of work when you’re dealing with drug smugglers,” he said.

Law enforcement in various states have been pooling information in order to better establish overarching patterns in behavior that drug runners exhibit.

“You’ll get a lot of random traffickers who want to shoot the gap. With these current trends, where you’re seeing all of these Montana licenses, it’s because that’s the shortest route for them to get really cheap drugs and bring it back,” Green said.

Patrol officers for the sheriff’s office have focused efforts on policing drug trafficking since Green was brought onto the department by Sheriff Holly Lindsey because of his background in the field. His approach is concentrated on getting results and “drying out” the community when it comes to drugs passing through and remaining in the Silver Valley after being smuggled.

“I’m trying to approach it in a different path and I’ve got a good group of deputies right now, they’re learning and they’re doing a great job finding it,” Green said.

There have been recent overcrowding concerns at the jail, but Green said that even though that causes concern, deterring people from bringing drugs to the Silver Valley is the highest priority.

“As far as overcrowding at the jail goes, it’s definitely a problem, but it’s a much bigger problem letting them continue their business. It’s a priority for the sheriff, undersheriff and I,” Green said.

The hope is also that clamping down on access to drugs that flow into the Silver Valley will also reduce drug overdoses.

“Right now, the drug prices are much lower than I would like to see, that’s why I’ve been having my guys focus heavily on this type of work. The goal is to get the prices to increase, which will lower the availability and we’ll see more people start to get clean,” Green said.