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Kosciusko County and Indiana State Police are employing a slightly different approach to drug arrests.
Prosecutor David Kolbe said he's pleased with results from arrests in the past year in which police help monitor hotels and motels possibly being used by drug dealers.
Working out of hotels and motels has been a standard practice for some dealers because they avoid any chance of losing their homes through seizures if they are arrested.
Kolbe said state police have been working with a handful of inns for a year. If management smells marijuana or suspects illegal activities, they call police. Police then knock on the suspect's hotel door and ask to search the room.
The suspects are often surprised but often consent to a search. If the officer smells marijuana, he can seek a search warrant.
Kolbe, during his monthly press conference Tuesday, said he likes the alternative strategy rather than undercover drug operations that can span a month or more before arrests are made.
The hotel-motel interdiction program targets dealers, provides immediate results and isn't covert in any way - three aspects Kolbe said he likes.
Indiana State Police Officer Lee Boon estimated he's made about 20 arrests in the past year by working with hotels and motels in Kosciusko County.
The program gets mixed opinions from hotel and motel owners who were asked to participate. Some don't like the presence of police, Boon said.
"My suspicion is that ... the less frequently the police are there, it's going to bring forth an image that the hotel is safe."
Boon declined to identify inns cooperating in the program.
On a related matter, Kolbe said there was a significant decrease in the number of marijuana pickers arrested in 1996, but those figures jumped in 1997.
In 1995, the office began charging pot pickers with felonies if they're apprehended with large quantities.
In 1995, eight people were charged with felonies and a few others with misdemeanors. In 1996 - during the same time a billboard campaign ran - two people were charged with felonies. In 1997, without the billboards, the number of felonies jumped to nine.
The billboards read: "Attention Marijuana Pickers - You won't like our joint."
Suspects in the past often resided outside of the county. The billboards were located along highways.
"If we can get to them to turn around and go home, we've done our job," Kolbe said.
