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MrEd

MrEd

Conductor
Joined
Dec 11, 2007
Messages
1,023
Location
Charlotte, NC
Local, state and federal law enforcement officials collaborated Wednesday morning, when police dogs were used to try to find drugs at the Winona Amtrak station.

The event was coordinated by the Winona County Rural Crime Unit (RCU), which is funded by a federal stimulus grant. The RCU was joined by members of the Winona County Sheriff’s Department, the Winona Police Department and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

This was the first “drug interdiction” effort organized by the RCU. No drugs were found, but County Attorney Chuck MacLean said in a release that the RCU plans on using K-9 dogs trained in narcotics detection and other tools in future similar efforts throughout the county.

http://www.winonapost.com/stock/functions/...amp;home_page=1
 
I know nothing about whether or not it's a good use of stimulus money. I do know, at least I'm told by both fellow employees and some of the agents I've spoken with, that drug trafficking between Chicago, Minneapolis - St. Paul and Canada is happening and even on the trains. In five years I've seen at least 4 or 5 people pulled off the train at MSP by the DEA.
 
jis said:
How did we know that they used stimulus money?
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The second sentence in the article mentions it.

When I first read the title on this thread I thought it was a newbie Amtrak employee looking for pharmacy benefits!

Seriously, if you're not dealing or toting the stuff, you need not to worry.
 
For years the train has been considered a safe haven for drug smugglers. LD train travel is a less popular mode of transportation and it seems to hover in the background with little notice. Perhaps the drug dealers have caught on to this and are using it, so now the feds step in start checking.
 
dlagrua said:
AlanB said:
PetalumaLoco said:
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
I just wonder how many jobs this actually creates or whether it is local political drivel
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I'm sure the dog appreciates the work.
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Well it is a ruf job. :lol:
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But little inconvenience to us passengers, except perhaps if the dogs start sniffing out our collesterol and blood pressure medications!!!!
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pretty sure the dogs know the difference, otherwise this would be a common issue at airports. These dogs are very well trained, they know what to look for and what scents to pick up on. Unless you are smuggling something else in that cholesterol and BP medication
 
or you get a poorly trained dog. that happened to ALC the dog started barking at him and the cops thought he might have had a bomb or something until they found out the dog was after his fish N chips leftovers. hey next time don't get it in a "doggy bag" :D
 
Down here in Texas they are always taking guys off. There's a group of undercover police that come to the station almost everyday. Somehow they are tipped off and know who to get. One of them told me they are always going to St. Louis. :lol: And they always buy a last minute ticket too, a few minutes before the train departs. One day they found a bag with $50,000 cash!!!
 
saxman said:
Down here in Texas they are always taking guys off. There's a group of undercover police that come to the station almost everyday. Somehow they are tipped off and know who to get. One of them told me they are always going to St. Louis. :lol: And they always buy a last minute ticket too, a few minutes before the train departs. One day they found a bag with $50,000 cash!!!
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$50,000!!!! That would buy a lot of train travel and rack up a ton of points. ;) :eek: :D
 
saxman said:
One of them told me they are always going to St. Louis. :lol: And they always buy a last minute ticket too, a few minutes before the train departs. One day they found a bag with $50,000 cash!!!
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I frequently take the train to St Louis and I usually carry extra cash for tips. Should I start worrying? ;)
 
My understanding is that the entire drug interdiction program is a phenomenal sinkhole of money, stimulus or otherwise, and is of relatively questionable efficacy, but keeps quite a contingent of people in the dough. There is a huge constituency that supports it, so it shall go on, including stopping of trains and such. Too many people's livelihoods have now come to depend on its continuance, on both sides of the battle lines in "war on drugs", and that is a formula for its perpetual continuance irrespective of if it achieves anything concrete or not.
 
RRrich said:
saxman said:
One of them told me they are always going to St. Louis. :lol: And they always buy a last minute ticket too, a few minutes before the train departs. One day they found a bag with $50,000 cash!!!
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I frequently take the train to St Louis and I usually carry extra cash for tips. Should I start worrying? ;)
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How much do you tip? $1 for breakfast, $2 for lunch, $49,998 for dinner? :blink: :blink: :blink:
 
RRrich said:
saxman said:
One of them told me they are always going to St. Louis. :lol: And they always buy a last minute ticket too, a few minutes before the train departs. One day they found a bag with $50,000 cash!!!
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I frequently take the train to St Louis and I usually carry extra cash for tips. Should I start worrying? ;)
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Yeah, just don't buy a last minute ticket. And don't act all paranoid either. :lol:
 
Good thing I don't have the need to travel at the last minute then, I've been depressed and unconsciously paranoid for about the past year and a half ;)
 
saxman said:
RRrich said:
saxman said:
One of them told me they are always going to St. Louis. :lol: And they always buy a last minute ticket too, a few minutes before the train departs. One day they found a bag with $50,000 cash!!!
Click to expand...
I frequently take the train to St Louis and I usually carry extra cash for tips. Should I start worrying? ;)
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Yeah, just don't buy a last minute ticket. And don't act all paranoid either. :lol:
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Hmmm. Maybe I should worry. I just bought a round trip ticket San Francisco to Fresno for my wife. She will be going down with a big suitcase with stuff for our son, staying for 30 minutes and coming back with nothing - well, nothing except a friend of ours who has never been on a train before. She is a suspicious character, at least, we get the full suspicious passenger treatment at airports because she has knee replacements and metal in her back and neck. I guess there is no better use of time for airport security than to give the full going over to a 63 year old schoo teacher who looks excatly like what she says she is.

Maybe it is not last minute enough since it is for Friday.

Honey, how much do you need for bail? :eek: :eek:
 
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jis said:
My understanding is that the entire drug interdiction program is a phenomenal sinkhole of money, stimulus or otherwise, and is of relatively questionable efficacy, but keeps quite a contingent of people in the dough. There is a huge constituency that supports it, so it shall go on, including stopping of trains and such. Too many people's livelihoods have now come to depend on its continuance, on both sides of the battle lines in "war on drugs", and that is a formula for its perpetual continuance irrespective of if it achieves anything concrete or not.
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Jishnu, are you a cynic, or a realist? Or are they the same thing? xD
 
Green Maned Lion said:
jis said:
My understanding is that the entire drug interdiction program is a phenomenal sinkhole of money, stimulus or otherwise, and is of relatively questionable efficacy, but keeps quite a contingent of people in the dough. There is a huge constituency that supports it, so it shall go on, including stopping of trains and such. Too many people's livelihoods have now come to depend on its continuance, on both sides of the battle lines in "war on drugs", and that is a formula for its perpetual continuance irrespective of if it achieves anything concrete or not.
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Jishnu, are you a cynic, or a realist? Or are they the same thing? xD
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The overlap space is possibly quite large. :) I am probably in general, more of a realist and an optimistic one at that, but on drug interdiction programs there is very little to be optimistic about. What we need is a better balanced drug management program, without which we will continue to stuff our jails with more and more inconsequential pawns while costs skyrocket out of sight. Unfortunately I don't even think this is recognized as a problem yet in those terms. But this is way off topic now.
 
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