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Sandra Yi ReportingThere's an aggressive campaign going on in Weber County to get drugs off the streets. Residents are fed up with the problem and are doing something about it.
Auburn Guevara, Ogden Weed & Seed: "It could be an example of a businessman. He's going off to work, but before he goes to work, he has to have his fix. These are real people. These are everyday people. They don't all look like crackheads."
The pictures are hard-hitting. The idea, even more so. Billboards encourage residents to 'tip a cop' and report drugs in their neighborhood.
Lt. Mike Ashment, Weber Morgan Narctoci Strike Force: “The whole purpose of the campaign is for the community and citizens to realize the drug problem is not just law enforcement’s problem.”
And it seems people are getting the message. The hotline generated 900 calls last year.
Lt. Mike Ashment: "I would say that some of our biggest success cases have been from telephone calls."
Last year tips initiated nearly 700 criminal investigations, resulting in 462 arrests. That's a 27 percent increase from the year before. Drug agents last year also seized nearly 2 million dollars worth of illegal drugs.
Investigators say drugs and other types of crimes, like forgery, are often connected.
Lt. Mike Ashment: "We got a call on the tip a cop line here this last year that resulted in the arrest of an individual who was in a hotel with a computer manufacturing checks and fony IDs."
Auburn Guevara is with 'Weed and Seed', which uses federal grant money to clean up a troubled neighborhood in Ogden.
Auburn Guevara: "There's a lot of meth problems, a lot of drug busts."
And as the 'Tip a Cop' campaign moves into its second phase, she hopes that will change with more education.
Ogden residents can expect to see more things like brochures, magnets and neighborhood watch signs with information on the tip a cop campaign.
