Captain Valerie Littlejohn of the Oklahoma City Police Department has expressed that her agency could more effectively combat drug cartels if field testing for fentanyl was not a prerequisite to charge suspects with fentanyl-related crimes. She made this statement during an interview with the Federal Newswire on March 25.
"With the danger that testing Fentanyl poses to officers, it would be beneficial if legislation was passed that allowed officers to charge subjects with a crime related to Fentanyl without having to field test the substance," Captain Littlejohn said," said Littlejohn, Public Information Officer (PIO).
In her conversation with the Federal Newswire, Littlejohn revealed that illegal drugs are consistently entering the country, including Oklahoma, via drug cartels. "The highway systems that flow through Oklahoma City contribute to large amounts of narcotics being transported through our jurisdiction. Due to this, our department and federal partners have made large amounts of drug seizures," she said. Littlejohn added that Mexican drug cartels use individuals as distributors of drugs who are "here to pay a real or believed debt."
"Although arrests are made during these seizures," Littlejohn continued, "it can be difficult to trace the narcotics back to their origins due to a lack of cooperation, and drug traffickers are treated as expendable and are quickly replaced." She attributed these challenges to the lack of cooperation between law enforcement, victims and witnesses, as well as the limited information which the cartel distributors possess.
Dr. George Monks, former President of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, shared some alarming statistics with local news station KFOR. "Since 2008, we’ve lost 250,000 Americans to fentanyl overdose in the United States," he said. "We’ve lost over 100,000 just in the last year. That’s 200 deaths a day. That’s one fentanyl overdose death every 7 minutes."
Littlejohn further stated that legislative support would be beneficial in combating cartel-related crimes. She highlighted the requirement for officers to field test substances positively for fentanyl as a significant obstacle they face when charging suspects. "With the danger that testing Fentanyl poses to officers," she said, "it would be beneficial if legislation was passed that allowed officers to charge subjects with a crime related to Fentanyl without having to field test the substance. Similar to marijuana, the probable cause would be based on the officer’s training and experience. This training and experience allow officers to identify the blue M-30 pills that are used to disguise and distribute Fentanyl."
According to their website, Captain Valerie Littlejohn serves as the Public Information Officer (PIO) for the Oklahoma City Police Department. The department consists of 1169 officers and 300 civilian staff, responsible for covering an area of 700 square miles divided into 2,500 police reporting districts.
