Kudos to Operation Ice Dancers

First of all, the name is amazing. Operation Ice Dance. What a great name. “Best name EVER,” a co-worker texted back to me.

That was our first thought when the media invitation came in to the news room announcing a multi-law enforcement agency press conference to be held at the Enterprise Police Department Friday morning.

That RSVPs, press passes and government issued identification were required to attend added to the drama.

The short version of the story—which can be read in more detail elsewhere in this publication—is that federal and multiple state law enforcement agencies in a tri-state area had combined manpower and resources over a two-year period to infiltrate two south Alabama criminal organizations.

The result was the confiscation of large quantities of methamphetamine and heroin and multiple arrests on state and federal charges. One of the confiscated items was a vehicle equipped with a device to conceal narcotics.

Twenty-one arrests had been made by the time of the press conference. United States Attorney Louis V. Franklin Sr., from the Middle District of Alabama, said more arrests are anticipated.

“We are not talking about street-level drug trafficking,” Franklin said. “This is a not low-level dealer.”

Noting that all law enforcement agencies are “resource-challenged” in this day of budget cuts, Franklin commended the agencies for their teamwork. “This just shows how combined forces working together can do positive things for the community,” he said.

“This just goes to show what can be accomplished when everybody works together,” is the way Twelfth Judicial Circuit District Attorney Tom Anderson put it.

“I want to say that the residents of Enterprise, Coffee County and the Wiregrass should be proud today that all law enforcement in the Wiregrass stood together along with our federal agencies to rid ourselves as much as we can of all these illegal drugs in the area,” is what Enterprise Police Chief T.D. Jones told the media representatives present.

Coffee County Sheriff Dave Sutton asked everyone to credit the law officers who had been out on the streets before dawn actually making the arrests.

To orchestrate that many arrests in multiple locations in this day of instant digital communication is no small feat.

Kudos for a job well done to the Operation Ice Dance team.

Michelle Mann is a staff writer for The Southeast Sun and Daleville Sun-Courier. The opinions of this writer are her own and not the opinion of the paper. She can be reached at (334) 393-2969 or by email at [email protected].