WPBN: The border between Arizona and Mexico receives the majority of resources used to combat drug smuggling. But according to police officials in northern Arizona, during November, there was a substantial amount of drug trafficking in their region.
K-9s and patrol units are being used by the Coconino County Sheriff‘s Office to combat drug smugglers on the highways and interstates that pass through Flagstaff.
For the past three years, CCSO Corporal Benjamin Waibel and his K-9 Dex have been patrolling and apprehending narcotics traffickers together.
They found 158 pounds of methamphetamine and two kilograms of cocaine in the same week in late November.
“In the big scheme of things, it doesn’t really put a dent in how large scale these operations are,” Waibel stated. “Whether it’s money, guns, drugs, people, you name it, it’s moving on I-40 and I-17.”
Using major interstates like Interstate 40 and Interstate 17, along with other state routes like state Routes 89 and 87, he said that Flagstaff is more of a drug pass-through city.
But either the narcotics return to Flagstaff or they wind up in another community abroad.
“The damage that I’ve seen locally in Flagstaff in the 12 years I’ve been here is ridiculous,” Waibel stated. “I mean I’ve used Narcan on people to bring them back when they’ve overdosed and that happens on a routine basis now.”
When it comes to traffic stops, he observes how cars respond to police officers and determines whether a K-9’s signals provide probable cause to search.
“You know when you get a dog alert sometimes you find 158 pounds of meth,” Waibel stated.
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Even though he acknowledged that these kinds of stops are insignificant in the grand scheme of the war on drug trafficking, they do have an impact.
He added that the department intends to keep up its crackdown on drug trafficking and eventually grow its K-9 squad to cover all key routes.
