DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office has directly taken or assisted in busts that got more than a half million dollars worth of drugs off the street. One of their more recent busts took place on Detroit’s west side.
“I saw the police cars and so forth, and I didn’t know what it was,” said Henry McKee. “I’ve been here 54 years, and this is the first time I heard something like that.”
McKee lives near Outer Drive and the Lodge Freeway, where the traffic stop took place, and was stunned to learn law enforcement netted about seven pounds of methamphetamine, along with crack cocaine. The drugs have a street value of roughly $20,000.
“We’re starting to see methamphetamine come into the county,” said Lt. Phil Migliaccio. “It’s kind of a cheaper drug, so it’s easy to get hooked on a little easier for people to get the money to access to pay for that.”
Lt. Migliaccio and Capt. Jason Bates from the sheriff’s office say deputies were assisting another agency during that bust. They often play the role of a point guard in narcotics enforcement — helping departments and agencies score big arrests and drug seizures thanks in part to their K9 unit, which is comprised of seven dogs: four are trained to detect explosives. The other three - narcotics.
“These dogs help us be able to locate what we can’t see,” said Cpl. Michael Noe. “He’s (referencing his dog Hobbs) trained on ecstasy, crack, meth, and heroin. He’s found all of those.”
Just this week, Cpl. Noe and Hobbs helped another agency nab a kilo of cocaine during a traffic stop.
“They’re very helpful because, on an open-air K9 sniff during a traffic stop, you can, as long as it’s in the limits, the time it takes to do a traffic stop, I can walk my dog around that vehicle and the dog indicates, that gives us PC (probable cause) to search the vehicle,” said Noe.
The dogs also track down drug paraphernalia and guns that suspects toss from vehicles when police are tailing them.
Bates says the busts play a significant role in making communities in Wayne County safer and drug dealers a bit more anxious.
“We’re out there, we’re looking for you and we have to just get lucky once. You (referring to drug dealers) gotta be lucky every day,” said Bates.
