GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Toward the end of July, FOX 17 reported that Grand Rapids Police obtained ten warrants for arrest for drug dealers selling out of Heartside Park.
By mid-October, police arrested all ten of the dealers, plus four additional drug dealers. All of them selling crack cocaine in Heartside Park.
More than 120 ounces were seized.
This approach, arresting dealers and not users, is one GRPD Chief Winstrom says is necessary to solve problems, as opposed to creating new ones.
“The individuals who are buying, they’ll have the drugs in their hands. However, they’re going to be bonded out the next day. They’re going to be leaving with that same addiction, and there’s not going to be a benefit to that operation,” Winstrom said.
There's already been a decline in crime at Heartside Park.
“We know we’re not going to completely eradicate drug sales in Grand Rapids, and one drug operation. But as we see it pop up elsewhere, we’re going to address that too,” Winstrom said.
Also seized during the arrests were two illegal guns.
Winstrom says they're also going after dealers who sell drugs to people that result in a lethal overdose, saying while some might view drug addiction as a victimless crime— that's not always the case.
“Some people say drug use is a victimless crime. Until someone you love dies of an overdose,” Winstrom said.
