A new agreement between the agencies will allow them to work together, on both sides of the counties’ boundaries, to go after the sources and suppliers of opioids and fentanyl being pushed into our communities.
DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick and Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain signed the agreement last Thursday, which consolidates the efforts of their street-level tactical teams. Both agencies have been hampered, in the past, by staffing issues when it comes being able to track down the sources of these illegal narcotics.
“Working together in these ways makes a statement. We owe it to our communities, especially those members who are the victims of addiction, to go after the people that bring this poison into our area,” Mendrick said. “Unfortunately, the dealers don’t care about jurisdictional boundaries. This is a step towards making sure that those same boundaries don’t affect our abilities to take it off the street.”
Hain stressed these efforts are to target dealers who destroy communities.
“We will continue to make our rehabilitation efforts first and foremost when we encounter people addicted to these narcotics,” Hain said. “But to the people bringing it into the area, we won’t show any compassion. They simply bring it in to make a profit and don’t care about the devastation it leaves behind.”
Both DuPage and Kane County have extensive and successful rehabilitation programs, both inside and out of their correctional institutions. Mendrick and Hain agree that working with people suffering from addiction rather than locking them away without any alternative is the only path toward rehabilitation. But the two strongly agree that doesn’t take away their responsibility to go after those providing it.
“The decision was easy” Mendrick further stated. “We already collaborate our efforts to combat on-line child pornography and online exploitation of children with great effect. This is just an extension of the shared resources that have already proven successful.”
