DA to dealers: Public is watching

BY STACI WILSON

Law enforcement officials in Susquehanna County are looking for the public’s help in an effort to stem the tide of drug activity in the area.

District Attorney Robert Klein announced Thursday afternoon a new way for community members to take an active, but anonymous, role in the fight against drugs.

“Most want to get this drug thing under control,” Klein said in a press conference with county officials and law enforcement personnel, “This gives them a role.”

Members of the public will be able to fill out a form, available as a link on the county website (www.susqco.com), to report drug activity they witness.

Different from a “tip line,” the form being used is able to generate more information for law enforcement personnel by walking members of the public through information to glean the type of activity, locations, times, license plates and other identifiers, Klein said. People would also be able to upload photographs and video to the site.

The software used for the initiative was already being utilized by the county’s emergency management office and the additional use will come at no cost to the county.

Klein said the initiative was not for “vigilantes.” and that he did not want people to take matters into their own hands.

He said the drug activity reporting form would also make law enforcement more efficient. “We can be in an area, develop the information we need to get into a house and develop our own case,” he said.

“Drug dealers are not welcome in Susquehanna County,” Klein said. “We view them as predators, they are now the prey.”

Klein was joined by state police, municipal police, the county coroner and county commissioners as he spoke about the program.

All of the agencies will be sharing information, he said.

Klein said drug activity is everywhere in Susquehanna County. “It doesn’t discriminate,” he said. With drugs – like heroin and crystal methamphetamine – coming to the area from Broome County, N.Y., Wilkes-Barre, New York and New Jersey, “We’re fighting the battle on many fronts.”

That is one of the reason the district attorney and law enforcement is attempting to rally local residents in an effort to stem the supply.

Klein noted the number of drug-related burglaries in the county, some occurring while people are in their homes. “That’s never going to end well.”

The district attorney said to those caught dealing, “We’re going to stand on you,” as he also advocated for getting drug users more help with better treatment options.

“We can’t incarcerate our way out of it,” he said.

In addition to Klein, individuals and agencies at the announcement included Sheriff Lance Benedict, Coroner Anthony Conarton, County Commissioners Alan Hall, Elizabeth Arnold, and MaryAnn Warren, and representatives from Pennsylvania State Police, Gibson, the Montrose Borough Police Department, the Forest City Borough Police Department, the Silver Lake Township Police Department, the Lanesboro Borough Police Department, the Great Bend Borough Police Department and the Hop Bottom Borough Police Department.