Going overboard?

Now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag in regards to the presence of certtain drugs within Saratoga, it appears some community members are concerned about the Saratoga Police Department “going overboard”.

During the September 7 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, Councilmember Ron Hutchins told Chief Ken Lehr he had been approached by “a few people” about the increased citations and names in the police report published each week by the Saratoga Sun.

“I think the fact that we started publishing more and what is happening in the Valley has raised a lot of awareness. There are a few people that are concerned that maybe we’re going overboard. I’ve talked to them at length and I don’t believe we are,” said Hutchins. “I think we have big city problems in a small town and this initial effort that you guys are doing is opening some eyes.”

A month prior, during the August 3 town council meeting, K9 Sergeant Justin Brown had informed the governing body he had made over 25 drug related arrests since he joined the department in June. Since Brown’s arrival, the number of drug related arrests has only continued to increase with many of them felony charges. According to both Brown and Lehr in previous meetings, the paraphernalia has run the gamut from methamphetamine to MDMA to fentanyl.

“I don’t think we’ve gone overboard SWAT team-type tactics or anything like that,” Hutchins said. “I think talking to the public and maybe being a little more open with what our goals are will go a long ways to ease some of the concern that’s out there right now.”

Lehr told the council he had been approached by some residents himself asking why there was an increase in drug related arrests. The police chief said he informed those residents the only change which was contributing to the increase was the addition of a K9 unit to the department.

“It’s still normal patrol techniques,” said Lehr. “We just go out and make traffic stops. If people want to carry that in their car, then they better prepare for the consequences.”

Hutchins stressed his point about Saratoga being a small town with big city problems by asking Lehr to keep a small town feel to the department. Lehr responded he had no issue with people coming to Saratoga, saying he wanted people to come to town but he didn’t want them to bring drugs into the community. Councilmember Jon Nelson added to the conversation, saying he had been approached by some residents as well about the increase in drug related arrests.

“I’ve tried to remind people that we had a serious problem that we had to address. We had five hot pool deaths within a six month span, so I think we’ve done the right thing in the response to that. I think that Officer Brown is doing his job,” said Nelson. “I think there’s a perception that there’s change and I don’t think that perception is wrong but I think we’re doing the right thing in trying to keep this community safe.”

With only three full-time officers currently working in the department–Lehr, Brown and Sergeant Tyler Christen–Councilmember Ben Spaulding stated the three were going above and beyond. Spaulding, who is the council liaison to the Saratoga Police Department, added the effort put in by the officers showed their concern for the community.

“Everybody’s goal is public safety and with the incident that happened up at Encampment and over towards Savery this past week, I’ve heard people talking about locking their doors and getting their guns out,” said Hutchins. “I, for one, have a pretty good comfort level that we have the right people here in town to deal with those kinds of things and we don’t have to hide under our beds when something happens.”

From August 16 to September 5, the Saratoga Police Department responded to 286 calls. In that same time, 14 citations were issued for possession of a controlled substance with nine of those felony amounts. Nelson told Lehr it was his understanding the most recent drug related arrest had a substantial amount with the chief responding they found “a little bit of everything”.

While Nelson said he could understand residents’ concerns over the possibility of government overreach and an overzealous police force, he believed it was not currently the case with the Saratoga Police Department. He continued, saying if it was on a scale between doing nothing and a heavily militarized police force, the scale may have been only slightly tipped towards the latter.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on September 21 at Saratoga Town Hall.