 - The Shoshoni Police Department has instituted a “zero-tolerance policy” for public intoxication in town, SPD Chief Chris Konija announced this week.){kind=link}
(Shoshoni, WY) – The Shoshoni Police Department has instituted a “zero-tolerance policy” for public intoxication in town, SPD Chief Chris Konija announced this week.
“If you’re out in public and you’re high … to the point that it gets (noticeable), you’re going to jail – no questions asked,” Konija said during a Shoshoni Town Council meeting Tuesday. “We’re done.”
Controlled substance use “continues to be an issue” in Shoshoni and other Fremont County communities, Konija explained. Konija stated that county prosecutors have agreed with him that “they’re sick of” the “rinse and repeat cycle” where officers “come across someone that is high on meth” and simply “move them along.”
“I’m not doing that,” Konija said. “So if someone is under the influence to the extent that they catch law enforcement’s attention because of their activity while they’re being under the influence of something in public, (they’re) going to jail.”
The SPD has also started to “crack down” on drug distribution activities in Shoshoni, he noted, referring to the recent Operation Crossroads drug bust in town.
“That kind of goes hand-in-hand with (the) zero-tolerance thing,” he said. “This is no longer a free haven. It’s no longer a place that, if you want to try and run from the cops in Riverton, the county, Lander, you come to Shoshoni because (you can get) away with it. I’m here to tell you, you’re not going to. … We’re just not going to put up with it anymore.”
For more information, call the Town of Shoshoni at (307) 876-2515.