TOWN OF MENASHA, WI (WTAQ) – The Town of Menasha Police Department is getting a lot of attention, not all of it good, after a Facebook posting asked drug dealers to rat on their competition.
Officer Jason Weber says the post is aimed at heroin dealers, and they wanted to do it in a “tongue-in-cheek” way.
“But at the same time it highlights this problem and we need the community’s support to, you know, give us tips or give us clues on what’s going on,” Weber said to FOX 11.
The social media posting, in which the cops offer a free service to help eliminate drug dealers’ competition, asks them to submit some info on other dealers.
Commenters on the Facebook post says it’s wrong to ask people to snitch on their neighbors, calling drugs a “victimless crime”.
“Do we take these tips like gangbusters? Are we kicking in doors? No,” Weber responded. Weber says heroin is not victimless, saying, “its killing people.”
According to Weber, the Town of Menasha had 4 people overdose on heroin in 2014. One of those people died.
The Winnebago County Heroin Task Force says 15 people died from heroin overdoses in 2014.
Weber says officers are also finding heroin needles in parks and along the sides of roads in the Town of Menasha.
“It’s a weekly occurrence,” he said.
Weber said the post is at least getting people to talk. He adds the Legislature makes the laws and it’s officers’ job to enforce them. So, he said, if you don’t like a law, you should take your concerns to the Legislature.
However, Weber says if citizens have concerns about police work or the ways police handle certain laws he would be willing to meet for coffee and talk about those concerns.
(Additional reporting from FOX 11).
