SMOKEY POINT — Arlington detective Mike Sargent stopped by Granroth Insurance to kick off the “Conversations with a Cop” program Aug. 3.
A meeting that was originally slated for half an hour wound up extending well past an hour, as Sargent answered questions, at times even chuckling over the tangents the discussions led to.
“There’s no better way to do my job than to work with the community itself,” Sargent said. “I’ve never believed in an us-versus-them attitude. It’s from combinations of different ideas that we come up with different trains of thought.”
Sargent explained that heroin became the drug du jour after Oxycontin, “which had been the drug of choice for teens and well-to-do businessmen,” changed the way it was made to prevent it from being used to get high.
City Councilwoman Jan Schuette added that heroin has become cheaper as a result of the Taliban losing control over poppy fields, thus essentially deregulating the market.
When local merchant and boys football coach Damon Binder asked why vagrancy and drug trafficking have become such issues in Smokey Point, Sargent pointed out its location along the I-5 corridor, its proximity to Canada and how near it is to backwoods where contraband and homeless encampments can be easily hidden.
“We actually had an established drug ring here for a while,” Sargent said. “We have a transit hub here now, and if you’re homeless, DSHS is right down the highway to the east of here. As a police officer, any time I see parks or transit hubs, I see places where the homeless will congregate.”
Sargent confirmed reports that it’s difficult to arrest heroin users due to concerns about the lack of adequate resources at the Snohomish County Jail to care for them.
“We deal with a lot of seriously ill people, but we can’t force them to get help unless they’re a danger to themselves or others,” said Sargent, who conceded that most such confinements amount to a 72-hour hold before they’re released.
Sargent clarified that, for smaller-tier crimes, Arlington police send arrestees to the Marysville Municipal Jail, while the county jail in Everett is reserved for felonies.
Sargent recommended that businesses help prevent issues with homeless by working with property owners and police to secure blanket trespass notices. He said that posting no trespassing signs also helps, although Sargent noted that such signs must include the municipal and state codes to be legally binding.
“Working in insurance, I know that just posting signs can be a deterrent,” said Granroth, who added that this works with neighborhood watch and security system signs as well. “If you have signs saying, ‘I’ve got cameras monitoring this property,’ they’re more likely to leave you alone.”
Sargent agreed, sharing how he’s installed exposed surveillance cameras that call attention to themselves, regardless of what direction they’re being observed from. He likewise urged property owners to trim their trees and bushes, to eliminate any spaces where homeless or criminals can conduct their business out of sight. “There was this one Starbucks where we knew people were living outside on the grounds,” Sargent said. “When they trimmed their plants, they found a ton of needles.”
And while it might feel like a futile gesture at times, Sargent touted the value of calling police every time they witness either crimes or suspicious activity.
“We do have habitual callers, but even if it’s just one time out of a hundred that those tips yield results, that makes it all worthwhile,” Sargent said.
