Clarkston site of drug war training

Law enforcement officers from Washington get tips on how to find illegal drugs at a training session in Clarkston Thursday.

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Story Published: Jun 11, 2009 at 8:47 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jun 11, 2009 at 9:40 PM PDT

By Stephanie Smith

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CLARKSTON - 50 additional law enforcement officers were in Clarkston Thursday. They were there to sharpen their skills when it comes to finding illegal drugs.

"The Asotin County Sheriff's Office is hosting the Midwest Counterdrug Task Force Training Center," said Asotin County Sheriff's Office Deputy Rob Breland. "It's a training that's brought in to provide street officers with the ability to find narcotics that are hid inside of natural voids inside of vehicles. Today's law enforcement is more of a hide and seek game and we are teaching our officers how to seek where the drug dealers have hid their narcotics."

Breland organized the event that helps officers learn how different departments seek out illegal drugs.

"We are past the days where the drug dealers just throw the drugs in the back seat and hope they don't get pulled over," said Breland. "Now they are very intelligent with how they do it and it will give the officers the ability to see things that are out of the ordinary."

Officers from throughout Washington participated in Thursday's training, which Breland said has an additional economic benefit.

"It was really important to our administration that we make all attempts to keep all the living arrangements on this side of the river in Clarkston, which we did," said Breland. "There is a total of 27 officers from outside the area that are staying in a local hotel and all their meals are bought and paid for in Washington, so it's a great opportunity for us to help the economy and boost the business owners in Clarkston."

Breland said this wont be the last of these trainings. He is planning six more, which could bring police from Oregon, Washington and Idaho to Clarkston.

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