“Those numbers just soar. I mean they’re soaring so much where it’s almost that you can’t keep up with it.”

-Acadia Parish Sheriff K.P. Gibson

CROWLEY, LA — Authorities in Acadia Parish are working around the clock to get drugs off the street. Monday they announced seven narcotics arrests made within the past couple weeks.

The suspects are from four Acadia Parish towns and one in Lafayette Parish, and the arrests involve the sales and possession of meth, heroin, marijuana, and prescription drugs in the wrong hands.

“It’s just an everyday battle,” admitted Acadia Parish Sheriff K.P. Gibson. Inside the Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office, the number of case files involving illegal drugs is constant.

“Those numbers just soar,” Gibson said. “I mean they’re soaring so much where it’s almost that you can’t keep up with it.”

According to the sheriff, it’s not unusual to see 15 narcotics arrests in a month. Although they aren’t arresting people every day, it can take weeks or even a month of intelligence and surveillance work to make a single distribution arrest.

Gibson said doing the investigation the lawful way is what separates them from criminals, “We don’t want to make a case that just says, ‘Oh, we made an arrest.” We want a case that says, “Okay, we made an arrest, but yet at the same time we’ve prepared a case for the prosecution to where we can prosecute this case and hopefully resolve this issue.”

“It’s not good what I hear is going on in this area”, admitted Dorothy Eaglin.

Eaglin lives in Crowley, where deputies made three of the seven narcotics arrests. According to her, the best way for the community to help themselves is to help inform the authorities.

“If I know that you’re doing it, I’m going to have to report you because I know what you’re doing is going to affect me somewhere down the line,” Eaglin said.

Gibson said drug addiction, usage, and distribution leads to other crimes like burglaries and theft which is one more reason they want more residents involved in reporting, “If we can take as much of a hit out that, hopefully, it will not only take a little bite out of the narcotic industry but take a bite out of our property crimes.”

Sheriff Gibson will begin his second term next year. He said one of his focuses right now is creating more detectives and narcotics positions. He said he’d love to double the 10 he has now but knows funds are limited and he has to allot his budget responsibly.

If you see suspicious activity in Acadia Parish, you can make reports through Acadia CrimeStoppers at 337-789-TIPS.

Learn more about the charges for the seven arrested here.