Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
Last week, marked the first-year anniversary of an exclusive Narcotics Investigator within the ranks of the Merrill Police Department.
In a summary of the position and performance of the officer filling the position presented by Chief Corey Bennett to the city’s Health and Safety Committee in August, Bennett praised not only the officer currently filling the position and attributes he brings to the position, but emphasized a need for the position to remain intact.
“Our Narcotics Detective position began on Sept. 4, 2017 and immediately began working closely with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Detective,” Bennett’s report reads. “Together they often jointly work local cases, share common information and generally work to support each other’s previously gathered intelligence to further their respective investigations. These partnerships are key to making these positions and their mission successful. I would note, the personality of our Narcotics Detective makes him exceptional in this regard. He is an excellent team player and has the ability to look beyond the immediate gratification of a quick arrest and envision a larger goal or priority that would serve the citizens better.”
Bennett cited a recent letter from Marathon County Sheriff Scott Parks, commending the investigator’s involvement in an ongoing investigation from his agency which had ties to the city of Merrill.
“Chief Bennett,
“No law enforcement agency can effectively police their respective communities without a network of reliable partnerships. Another excellent example of a unified front in combatting the scourge of controlled substances impacting our communities has been demonstrated. I want to commend your agency for working so well with the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office and our Special Investigations Unit (SIU)> I particularly want to congratulate Investigator (name withheld).
“I have been frequently briefed and updated on a large-scale investigation SIU was conducting, involving persons named Valerie Flores and Joel Helding. The investigation is concluding with convictions of key players who were involved with moving substantial quantities of THC (190 pounds) and firearms. The investigation resulted in Flores and Helding agreeing to plea bargains. With those plea bargains being a combined minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years confinement.
“Investigator (name withheld) worked tirelessly with SIU participating in long hours of surveillance, interviews and interagency communication, providing significant and detailed information aiding in achieving the end result of these large scale traffickers being removed from the Central Wisconsin criminal network for a long period of time. My SIU staff was quite pleased with Investigator (name withheld) and his skillset.
“Thank you Chief Bennett and the Merrill Police Department, for being the partners I have come to know in many years of service to Marathon County. A separate thank you to Investigator (name withheld). We welcomed your assistance. Know the value you brought to this investigation.”
Signed,
Scott R. Parks
Marathon County Sheriff
In elaborating more on the investigator’s role in the matter Parks spoke of, Bennett advised Flores and Helding were operating from many locations in the region, but had taken up a primary residence in the City of Merrill.
“They were involved in the trafficking of large volumes of marijuana,” Bennett said. “I believe the final pursuit and arrest involved close to 300 pounds of marijuana. These felons were also using and trafficking stolen and defaced firearms, of which we recovered evidence upon execution of a search warrant here in the city. They were also suspected of trafficking methamphetamine by the tens of pounds into the region. The prosecution of this case is being handled by the US Attorney’s Office.”
Another area of success which has come as a result of the investigator’s work, was that of focusing Drug Endangered Children (DEC) investigations.
“Through the investigation of problem locations in the city where drug use (not necessarily distribution) was often occurring we had become aware of the children in these environments that are exposed to a multitude of dangers including neglect and exposure to drug use. As we began to explore how to properly address these incidents with other partners, including the Lincoln County District Attorney’s Office and Lincoln County Department of Social Services, an initiative was born. I am proud to say we have stretched the local justice system’s capacity to address cases of this type. As of this year so far, the District Attorney has filed 51 CHIPS (child in need of protective services) cases compared to 30 in all of 2017, 21 in all of 2016, and 11 in all of 2015. Most of this increase in volume is due to DEC related cases in 2017 and 2018.
While the position has been overly successful in its inaugural year, the success came with a price.
As Bennett explains, upon garnering common council approval for MPD’s Narcotics Detective position in December of 2016, the department underwent re-alignment of administrative structure to facilitate the position. The realignment consisted of eliminating the Administrative Captain position, which Bennett held prior to succeeding retired police chief Ken Neff. To balance the administrative duties, both day shift patrol Lieutenant positions were converted to Patrol Captain positions. The future plan called for the patrol captains to retain their existing duties of oversight of daytime patrol but take on some of the administrative tasks in addition to providing oversight over night shift patrol activities.
“Unfortunately we are now frequently pressed on the administrative side,” Bennett explains. “I often refer to the term ‘treading water’ because there is so much more I would like to accomplish but staying caught up is often challenging enough. I am reluctant to delegate any more tasks than I already have, as the Patrol Captains have more responsibility to patrol operations and staff strength than administrative tasks. This is the weakest part of the restructuring plan but we knew this would be the challenge at the beginning. To that end, the initial conclusion is still valid. We need both positions but the narcotics detective has more direct and visible impact to the citizens. We need to work towards getting back to our previous organizational structure with the addition of the narcotics detective. I would recommend looking at the point of attrition of our current Patrol Captain(s) to make this change with an estimate of three years.”
Since its inception on Sept. 5, 2017, work of the MPD Narcotics Detective has led to least 47 arrests and has initiated approximately 12 search warrants.
“The position is too viable to let go at this point,” Bennett adds. “The work he has done has been too impactful and valuable to our citizens, to revert back to an Administrative Captain position.”