Northwest Missouri Drug task force holds annual meeting
The annual Northwest Missouri Drug Task Force meeting was held at the Buchanan County Law Enforcement Center on Wednesday morning to discuss trends involving opioids and cybercrime throughout the region.
Law enforcement agencies from several counties including Buchanan, Andrew, Atchison, DeKalb and Grundy were a few of the law enforcement agencies across Northwest Missouri who gathered at the annual meeting to address the many public safety issues associated with illicit drugs and violent crime.
A key focus was on ways annual grant funding provided to task forces and drug enforcement agencies is being used to combat these crimes and the future needs of the state relating to drugs and violent crime.
The Northwest Missouri Drug Task Force addressed the concern that many illicit drugs are making their way to the region, including heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl.
Buchanan County Drug Strike Force Captain Shawn Collie shared concerns about the amount of cocaine saturating the area in the past year, a drug that wasn’t as prevalent in years prior.
“Cocaine is one of the things that kind of disappeared for a while,” Collie said. “It's always been out there, but as far as within our communities, cocaine kind of went to the wayside. Suddenly, now we're back to seeing where people are bringing cocaine into the area and distributing it which is concerning.”
Data from the Northwest Missouri Drug Taskforce for 2024 shows high amounts of several drugs which were seized:
- 38.45 grams of cocaine
- 24 grams of heroin
- 15,617 grams of methamphetamine
- 171,445 grams of marijuana
- 7,337 pills
- 886 grams of fentanyl
- 1,630 grams of hydrocodone – 10 mg
The number of illicit drugs continuing to circulate throughout the region illustrates a need for law enforcement agencies to work together and disrupt drug trafficking operations.
“Whether it’s Buchanan County officers, St. Joe PD, Maryville PD, or whomever; we’re not going to be able to combat this individually,” Collie said. “It’s something that affects every community in Northwest Missouri. By coming together, we can pull all our resources together and remind some of the counties that we do receive funding to help within rural areas as well.”
Northwest Missouri law enforcement agencies are continuously following the latest drug trends on the East and West Coast to determine how they may impact smaller communities.
Agencies also discussed their concern about the amount of cyber crimes against children and the area law enforcement prevention efforts.
