NWT RCMP Chief Superintendent Syd Lecky recently spoke on the state of the opioid crisis in the territory and his plans to address some of the key concerns NWT residents have brought up to him in the first few months in his new position.
“We’re working on a new drug strategy to try to address some of the issues that you’re seeing,” Lecky announced. “Interdicting and intelligence gathering is a key part of that strategy. We encourage the public to get out and get that message to us.” he added.
According to the Chief, RCMP operations in the Northwest Territories face several challenges due to the remote nature of the work and lack of resources in some northern communities compared to larger jurisdictions in the south.
“I don’t have a large drug unit that I can deploy and address issues all over the Northwest Territories so we do have to find more strategic ways to address at the local level,” Lecky said.
Lecky says one of the most important factors that contributes to cleaning up opioid influenced communities is community cooperation, saying the RCMP depends on community leaders and members to inform police of any suspicious activities.
“We don’t have the same infrastructure in small communities to be able to address these issues collectively in our small communities so whatever we can do together is certainly something that we’re going to do,” Lecky said.
