DUSON, La. (KLFY) — Fentanyl overdoses have been a problem across the entire country, including Lafayette Parish. The area of most concern in the parish: Duson.

In a sit-down conversation on Acadiana Crimestoppers, Police Chief Kip Judice says they are tackling this problem head on.

“We looked at the population of our community which is less than 1% of the entire parish of Lafayette, but we had over 25% of Opioid-related deaths.” said Judice

The police chief says he is determined to be more proactive after seeing the data.

“Educated our officers, we started educating the community through some programs we had there, making sure they were aware of the dangers.” said Judice.

Chief Judice says education is important because it’s not necessarily about the purchase of fentanyl.

“That’s not what’s happening, they’re buying marijuana that’s laced with fentanyl, they’re buying other drugs not intending to ingest a deadly drug but they’re getting the deadly overdoses.” said Judice.

In addition to education, the Duson Police Department is using technology to make a difference. Chief Judice explains through a patchwork of city cameras, license plates of known drug dealers are being tracked.

“When we get that information, we’re able to establish a license plate number, we have a license plate recognition system in our community.” he said.

This system has the ability to alert law enforcement if it sees the license plate entering city jurisdiction.

“When that car comes into our communities we’re alerted by e-mail, by text message, and we’re on you!” said Judice.

This helps law enforcement follow these dealers and drug deals as they are happening.

“We’re going to be close by and if there is an overdose we have Narcan and we can potentially save a life.” said Judice.

This can help law enforcement by helping put them in the right spot to save lives and lead to intel gathering.

“We have a fentanyl overdose where a person survives, we talk to them, we bring them in, we try our best to identify where they got these drugs.” said Judice

Judice says the number of fentanyl overdoses in Duson have dropped every year since 2023.

“It’s trending down and that’s a good thing, and I’m proud to say in the town of Duson our numbers are also trending down.” explains Judice

But the efforts will continue and Judice says the work is not done.

“So, we’re pleased to see the results but we’re not stopping, one fentanyl death is too many.” said Judice.

The full conversation with Chief Judice can be seen on our Acadiana Crimestoppers show, exclusively on KLFY+.

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