Estevan Police Chief Paul Ladouceur says that the recent investigation that led to four people from Estevan being charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine last week was complex and required numerous units.
The investigation began in January 2019 and involved a specialized integrated unit, municipal police services, the RCMP and other support units.
“I’ve been asked the question ‘Is this overly long for a drug investigation,’ and I’ve always said that some drug investigations take a matter of minutes and some take a matter of months and some take a matter of years,” Estevan Police Chief Paul Ladouceur told the Mercury.
He added that it depends on the number of people involved, the complexity of the investigation and the techniques used by police organizations.
The majority of the investigation was carried out by an investigative unit then-known as the Regina Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), in partnership with the Estevan Police Service, Estevan RCMP, Regina Police Service, Saskatoon Police Service and the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team (NWEST).
The team investigated drug trafficking offences alleged to have occurred between November 2016 and November 2019. An investigation involved the execution of numerous search warrants and the seizure of drugs, cash and firearms in November 2019.
“This was a complex investigation that involved many units and many police services,” said Ladouceur.
Since this was a conspiracy case, a lot of work was needed, he said. They had to look at who was working together.
“When an investigation like this is initiated, we want to make sure that we take the time necessary to make sure that we gather all of the evidence that’s required to bring it before the courts,” he said.
Some of the evidence was gathered quickly and other evidence took time. With the number of search warrants involved, there was a lot of information to sift through.
He recognizes that there has been a lot of speculation in the community over the past 5 1/2 months regarding the case, and he has heard the rumours on whether any charges would be laid.
“Any time that you execute a search warrant and then there’s not charges laid immediately following, people start to question what was going on, and whether there were grounds for a charge or not. Sure there are always rumours with these investigations, especially larger-scale investigations, and especially when warrants are executed in a smaller community.”
The EPS doesn’t respond to comments on social media and coffee row, he said, and ultimately this case will play out in court.
