NAMPA, Idaho — With a massive amount of heroin flowing into the Gem State, Nampa Police Department's Special Investigation Unit, which focuses on narcotics, is changing the way they go after illegal opioid drug traffickers.
"The amount of heroin we have seen over the last two to five years is just astronomical compared to what it used to be here," Rob Stevenson, who's part of Drug Free Idaho, said.
In response, Nampa Police is turning its focus on larger suppliers.
"They are really trying to focus on the mid-level and higher up so they can get that larger quantity and try and disrupt that flow into the valley," Nampa Police Captian Curt Shankel said.
The shift in tactics has led to the arrests of five out-of-state people in the last six months. Combined, they were arrested for trafficking three and a half pounds of heroin, with a street value of $170,000.
"The majority of it is coming outside of Idaho from other locations, being brought not just in Nampa but to the treasure valley as a whole," Shankel said.
Among the seizure of narcotics were 55 pills of fentanyl disguised as Oxycodone.
"A very minute amount of fentanyl can kill you, you can overdose on that, as much as a couple granules of sand would be enough to overdose on," he said.
Police say fentanyl is also used to cut heroin. "It is a cheaper way to mix with your heroin to create more quantity," Shankel said.
"The reason we are seeing a lot of the deaths from the heroin overdoses is the mixture with fentanyl," Stevenson said.
In 2019 alone, Nampa authorities say heroin seizures have gone up more than 6,000% from 2018. The sizable change is partly because of officers focusing on bigger dealers with larger quantities.
Police say the other reason for the increase is because of the Treasure Valley's population growth.
"Just with that increase of population you are going to see an increase in crime, drug use," Shankel said.
Lastly, the difference is just due to opioid addiction growing across the country.
"The problem is substance abuse, so opioids just happen to be that substance that is being widely abused right now," Stevenson said.