Pubdate: Sat, 22 Feb 2014 Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB) Copyright: 2014 The Calgary Sun Contact: http://www.calgarysun.com/letter-to-editor Website: http://www.calgarysun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/67 Author: Katie Schneider ALERT RIDING HIGH Integrated Force Cheers $500m in Drug Seizures Since 2006 Law enforcement officials said Friday they have delivered a major blow to organized crime in Alberta, removing more than $500 million worth of drugs since 2006. Since the provincially funded Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) were formed in 2006, more than $500 million worth of drugs have been seized, said its CEO Insp. Charmaine Bulger and Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis. "Drugs are the currency of organized crime and taking that out if their hands and out of their business helps us to dismantle some of the organized crime that goes on in the province here," said Bulger. The $511,970,145 value of drugs seized between 2007 and the end of December - based on estimated potential street values - would reach from Lethbridge to Fort McMurray in $100 bills laid end-to-end, she said. The most valuable drug seized in terms of total value has been marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. Nearly 400 municipal police, RCMP and sheriffs work for ALERT and Bulger said joining forces has become a necessity. "The value of integration allows for the knowledge and the experience of all the different agencies to share all the information they have in commonality," she said. "As criminal activity becomes more complex over the years, the need to reach out to one another and share that intelligence and share our investigative abilities allows us to be more effective against the more organized criminals." Denis called the milestone a significant success. "Indeed the trade of drugs does not stop at the border of Calgary, Edmonton, or even Alberta," he said. "If we want to put a dent in organized crime, in Alberta, including in Calgary, we need to put a dent in their pocketbook and that is exactly what ALERT is doing." ALERT has identified several organized crime groups but Bulger couldn't reveal which ones. And neither Denis nor Bulger could give a sense if the $500 million is a drop in the bucket. "But at the same time when you are able to seize $500 million worth of illegal drugs that is a significant dent in their total operations that comes directly out of the pockets of organized crime and that's where we need to hit them," Denis said. ALERT has also seized more than 400 firearms and arrested nearly 7,000 offenders to date. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom