Pine to Prairie Drug Task Force makes 217 arrests in 2022

The Pine to Prairie Drug Task Force made 217 arrests in 2022. That averages out to more than four arrests a week in the eight county area of northwest Minnesota. The Task Force is made up of law enforcement officers provided by the eight counties and three major cities in the service area. The arrests resulted in the seizure of 1, 925 dosage units of fentanyl, 957 grams of methamphetamine, 221 grams of cocaine, 200 prescription pills, 19 pounds of marijuana and 24 weapons. Polk County and the cities of Crookston and East Grand Forks each provide one officer to the team while the city of Thief River Falls and Pennington County cooperate to provide an investigator. Counties contributing full time investigators to the team are Lake of the Woods, Marshall, Norman and Roseau. Polk County has two officers who manage drug dogs while Marshall and Norman counties and the cities of Thief River Falls and East Grand Forks each also have canine officers available to the Task Force. The Task Force receives approximately$250,000 in state funding annually and is guided by a 14 member advisory board.