Henry County joins narcotics task force with Burlington

The Henry County Sheriff's Office is now officially a part of the Southeast Iowa Narcotics Task Force. An agreement with the Burlington Police Department and the Des Moines County Sheriff's Office was approved by the Henry County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

'We joined the Southeast Iowa Drug Task Force about a year and a half ago, and since that time, they've been working on resolutions and 28E agreements with each participating county,” Henry County Sheriff Rich McNamee said. 'They asked me to bring this to the Board of Supervisors and have a formal resolution passed, simply to have a document that says we agree to work together. Before, it was just a mutual agreement.”

The Henry County Sheriff's Office was previously partnered with Ottumwa's own task force. However, the separation of Jefferson County between the other two counties contributed to Henry County leaving that task force.

'With Ottumwa, you have this break in between us and Wapello County, and it wasn't the best,” McNamee said. 'Quite frankly, our relationship with the Southeast Iowa Task Force, we're sharing information not always about drugs with Burlington and our neighboring county.”

McNamee mentioned the financial aspect as another reason why the Southeast Iowa Narcotics Task Force was a better move.

'Ottumwa has us paying dues to be a part of their task force, but with the Southeast Iowa drug task force, we actually receive part of the grant funds because we have a part-timer that works specifically for the task force,” he said. 'It's a joint effort, a 40-40-20 return, and the results speak for themselves.”

Being a part of the Southeast Iowa Narcotics Task Force has opened more partnerships for Henry County besides Burlington and Des Moines County.

'We had some cases go into other states, and we've been working with the Western Illinois Drug Task Force a bunch for obvious reasons,” Sheriff McNamee said. 'We're really seeing some results for Henry County.”

Though the Sheriff's Office has been seeing a rise in heroin and fentanyl in the county, meth and marijuana seem to be the biggest problems.

'If you're outside of the realm, you don't even realize the drug problem is as thick as it is, but it's a pretty serious issue,” Sheriff McNamee said. 'Overall, it's been a really good move for us, teaming up with the Southeast Iowa Narcotics Task Force. I could give you a thousand examples, but the fact of the matter is it's been productive.”