"Attention drug dealers:" Post by Town of Menasha PD on Facebook getting attention & some criticism

MENASHA -- A Facebook post by the Town of Menasha Police Department is getting a lot of attention -- and some criticism. The posts asks drug dealers to turn in their competition.



Town of Menasha Police Officer Jason Weber says the Facebook post was aimed at heroin dealers, albeit in a tongue-in-cheek way.

"But at the same time, it highlights this problem and we need the community's support to, you know, give us tips or give us clues on what's going on," Weber told WLUK.

The Facebook post says the Town of Menasha police offer a free service to help eliminate competition among drug dealers -- by allowing drug dealers to turn in their competition.

Some have expressed their distaste for the post -- commenting that it's wrong to ask people to rat out their neighbors, and that drug crimes are victimless.

"Do we take these tips like gangbusters? Are we kicking in doors? No," Weber said.

Weber adds that dealing heroin is not a victimless crime.

"It's killing people," Weber said.

Weber says officers are finding heroin needles in parks and along the sides of roads in the Town of Menasha.

"It's a weekly occurrence," Weber said.

Weber says this growing problem is the reason for the Facebook post.

"I think a lot of people are kind of at their wit's end on, 'how do we handle this? How do we deal with this?'" Weber said.

Weber says at the very least, the Facebook post has people talking.

"It had a reach, you know, of 50-some thousand people," Weber said.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the Wisconsin Crime Lab handled 341 heroin-related cases in 2009. That number was up to 1,130 in 2014.