Scott City Police Chief addresses increase in fentanyl calls, incidents

SCOTT CITY, Mo. (KBSI) – “There’s definitely an up-tick in the use and distribution in this area, and we’re going to continue to fight it the best we can.” 

This is Scott City Police Chief Rick Walter’s message to the community: He and his staff are doing everything in their power to rid the Scott City area of fentanyl. 

“We don’t have a lot of resources, but we’re going to go out and try to get it out of our community if at all possible,” he said.

And Walter said ridding it from the community is the end goal, but the ultimate goal is to stop it before it even gets to the community.

“We want to get the people who are bringing it in. That’s who we’re really after, and with the amount that could be coming through this area, we’re already making some of those cases,” he said.

Walter has been in law enforcement for more than 30 years, and he said this is one of, if not the, scariest problem he has ever dealt with. 

And large reasons why are that it takes so little for fentanyl to be fatal, and someone may not even know they’re taking it. 

“Sometimes people are buying something that they think they’re getting something else,” he said. “They think they’re getting like a pain pill from somebody that they know or a friend or even maybe somebody out here selling these pills.” 

The Scott City Police Department made a post on their Facebook page warning people of how deadly fentanyl is. Included in the post is a photo with a message that reads, “Don’t die to get high.” 

Walter said this post is part of their effort to educate the public on the dangers of this incredibly potent and lethal drug. 

“We put out a PSA to try to start at least getting people to start looking at it and talking about it, and that’s something that in my opinion is huge is education,” he said.