Upper Peninsula law enforcement agencies pose for a photo with Diversion Program Manager with the Detroit field division, Martin Redd, center, after a day of education on diversion cases and the resources that the Drug Enforcement Administration can offer local law enforcement to help solve crimes. (Photo courtesy of the DEA Detroit Division)

MARQUETTE – On Wednesday, members of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration came up from its Detroit Field Division to host an educational seminar for local law enforcement agencies.

“We (held) an all-day long law enforcement training, on what the DEA has as far as resources to provide aid to law enforcement in doing their job better, all for free,” said Diversion Program Manager with the Detroit field division, Martin Redd. “We have an enormous amount of resources we want people to use. We are bringing people in from our DEA headquarters; people talking about prosecuting diversion cases, that’ll be our office of chief counsel; we will be talking to law enforcement about exactly what diversion is and how to identify diversion cases; and to take them through some cases that we have prosecuted and that’s when the criminal attorneys come in and tell them what why need to prosecute them.”

Marquette Police Department Captain of Detectives, Christopher Aldritch, after this recent training can provide context as to what a drug diversion case is.

“Basically, in the context of the training we were in, it would be a controlled substance being obtained or being provided outside of the avenues that you can legally obtain them,” Aldritch said. “So people who are doctors who are over-prescribing or writing scripts for people that don’t have the ailments they are saying or people that are working on a pharmacy that are taking medications, things that happen during transit. People who would have access to them for their job but are illegally giving them out, outside of the scope of their work.”

The event saw numerous speakers from across the nation in various law enforcement agencies and departments.

“It (was) a full day and we (had) a long line of speakers,” said Redd. “Members from D.C. and the Detroit office.”

This opportunity for law enforcement added to their education credits and was a great opportunity for the Upper Peninsula law enforcement community, as the Detroit field office doesn’t just cover Michigan but Ohio and parts of northern Kentucky as well, making this a very unique chance to be recognized and continue education.

“It was good information on what resources the DEA could offer for diversion cases,” said Aldritch. “They went over the resources that they could provide for diversion cases.”

Aldritch attended the training with one other detective, and various other Upper Peninsula Law enforcement agencies were there as well.

The Marquette Police Department considers this event a huge success and offered a great many avenues for local departments to find resources and solve problems that small agencies like theirs couldn’t handle.

“Absolutely (it was a success), the resources available to federal agencies are a lot more than at local agencies,” said Aldritch. “So this event showed the assistance the DEA could help us with investigating. If it is analytical stuff, laboratory testing or investigator information. Since they oversee (drug enforcement) they have access that a local police department, like MPD, wouldn’t have at our fingertips.”

The Negaunee City and Ishpeming City Police departments, along with the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office, could not be reached for comment.

Antonio Anderson can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. His email address is aanderson@miningjournal.net.