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Fort Gibson prepares to fight the war on drugs with new officer

Muskogee Phoenix - 8/24/2021

Aug. 24—Fort Gibson can step up efforts to fight substance abuse and help those affected, through a federal grant.

Fort Gibson Police Department received $135,000 as part of a $1 million grant awarded to the Muskogee Opioid Response Coalition, (MORC), of which the department is now a member. Fort Gibson Police Chief Rob Frazier said the department heard last week that the grant was awarded.

As a formality, Fort Gibson Board of Trustees agreed to accept the grant at its Monday meeting.

Frazier said Fort Gibson's portion of the grant allocates $45,000 yearly over three years for an investigator who specializes in drug and alcohol offenses.

"They'll investigate a lot of drug and alcohol crimes, and they'll work hand in hand with Green Country, Neighbors Building Neighborhoods and Gospel Rescue Mission," he said. "It's giving these people an alternative to incarceration."

"We try to put them on a different path instead of going to jail," Frazier said.

Frazier said he was part of MORC when he was Muskogee County sheriff in 2018-2019. He left the county when he was hired as Fort Gibson police chief in 2020.

"When I left to become police chief, I went to them (MORC), and I said 'if you want to continue this with Muskogee County Sheriff's Office, I'm not there anymore, you'll have to go with whoever," Frazier said. "And they said no, 'You've been with us and we want to use Fort Gibson."

Frazier said he submitted data about Fort Gibson substance abuse and arrests.

"They chose to use Fort Gibson as a law enforcement entity," he said.

He said the grant means a lot to Fort Gibson.

"We want Fort Gibson to know the reason we worked hard for this grant is that we care, and we don't want to throw you in jail or throw you away," he said. "We want to give you a better option, to better you and your family's life and to make the community better."

Frazier said he expects to start looking immediately for an officer.

Fort Gibson police are working with the Gospel Rescue Mission to set up drug abuse recovery and drug resistance groups in town. GRM received $204,306 from the main grant.

GRM Executive Director Rich Schaus said he's talking with Frazier on the number and types of groups the mission will offer in Fort Gibson. He said he's talking about two options:

Freedom Club is designed to help people build the resiliency and character to turn down offers of alcohol or drugs and say, 'That's not who I am," Schaus said.

"The other one is Forging Past the Felony," he said. "If you have an addiction, you probably have some sort of criminal record. We want to help people get past their past, where nobody judges that anymore."

Schaus said he seeks to bring the same message to people in Fort Gibson, as well as at Gospel Rescue Mission. Forging Past the Felony is a four-week program that involves group training and coaching.

"Hopefully, within the next three weeks or so we can have someone hired and start moving into that process," he said. "Then we'll meet with the chief in setting a time."

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