August 9, 2021 |
Saratoga may be a small town, but it has a giant-sized problem. That was the message to Saratoga Town Council at last week’s regular meeting.
Saratoga police said they are overwhelmed with an influx of drugs. Some of it is local, small-time users. The police also allege “cartels,” avoiding Wyoming troopers patrolling the traditional drug corridor of I-80, have begun using the state highway through the center of town as their pipeline. Police Chief Kenneth Lehar put it this way:
Chief Lehr opened his report to council with a plea for help. More officers are needed along with better housing to attract them here. The influx of people to the valley this summer — visitors and new residents, some temporary working at guest ranches — have brought problems that are overpowering the town’s understaffed police department.
One the town’s two officers was out with COVID last week, compounding the problem. Chief Lehr and Sergeant Justin Brown picked up the slack.
They described Saratoga nightlife as ripe with drug use, drug runners, risky behavior and random destruction at the hot pools.
Sgt. Brown, newly arrived here from police work in Colorado, patrols the streets with his K-9 partner, Hobbs. Brown described a typical shift. It sounded less like sleepy Saratoga than a scene straight out of the TV show, “Cops.”
No police reports or arrest affidavits have been made public of the incidents described last week. The hot pools have been the scene of trouble, though. Since the end of 2020, police and the county coroner have responded to at least a half-dozen deaths associated with drug and/or alcohol use at the popular recreation spot that is open 24 hours. Regular users have told Bigfoot 99 that they’ve stopped soaking in the medicinal waters at night because of outsiders there — some bent on criminal intent. Vandalism to the changing rooms, including feces wiped on the walls, has become common enough for council to consider locking the bathrooms at night.
The soaking pools appear to have become a Mecca for drug users and those looking to cause trouble. Brown described one incident that occurred there last week.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid. It is lethal in small doses. If handled improperly at a crime scene, the slightest exposure to the drug can prove deadly to responding officers.
Sergeant Brown said he secured the drugs, revived the one suspect and held the other three in custody at the scene. An hour elapsed before an ambulance from Rawlins arrived for the individual who apparently overdosed on the drug.
Brown said he wanted to make the community aware of the problem, not scare people. The sergeant said if the problem isn’t combated now, it won’t fix itself. He compared Saratoga to Trinidad, Colorado.
Saratoga is no different than anyplace else. Drugs have been in the valley for a long time in one form or another, probably causing more personal problems for the users more than for anybody else. Sergeant Brown described something larger and more sinister, though.
At a workshop later in the week, drugs confiscated in recent arrests were displayed. The seized evidence reportedly included a large rock of meth and some fentanyl. The town is advertising for three additional police officers.
During last week’s meeting, the governing body approved the emergency purchase of a used Ford Interceptor SUV without going out to bid. The $22,000 vehicle is equipped for a K-9 officer and will help bolster Saratoga’s aging fleet of police vehicles that police say are hampering their efforts to fight the encroachment of big city drugs into Saratoga.
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