Drug enforcement team sees little change in quarter report

Published 4:54 pm Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The Cass County Drug Enforcement Team reported little change in the third quarter report this week, which highlighted how many arrests the team made from July 1 through Sept. 30.

Det. Sgt. David Toxopeus said the report was “right on par for the quarter,” which saw 29 total arrests and 91 charges. Of those charges, 74 were felonies, 11 were misdemeanors and six were related to warrant arrests. Toxopeus said because CCDET assists city police departments in some cases, 12 of the 29 arrests made in the quarter took place in Dowagiac.

“We get a lot from guys on the road,” Toxopeus said. “They keep running into the same people within that few-mile radius of the city and we count those times that we assist.”

The next highest zip code with the arrests was Cassopolis, which accounted for six of the 29 made in the quarter.

The report also detailed that the team seized 43 weapons, attended 11 training sessions, presented 11 drug awareness sessions and helped remove four children from the home where drugs or criminal offenses were present.

“We sometimes fill in the gaps and that’s why the numbers may seem higher, but they’re right about where they have been from the last quarter,” Toxopeus said.