Local law enforcement recently arrested suspects on drug related charges in hopes of cleaning the streets of Pearl River County.

Thursday morning, the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department, along with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the Mississippi Department of Corrections, arrested numerous suspects after conducting a year-long investigation intended to end the vicious drug cycle occurring in the community.

The Item was there to witness the arrests firsthand. Officers served warrants at numerous homes across the county to arrest suspects. While most were arrested, there were others who weren’t inside their residence at the time.

Pearl River County Sheriff David Allison said the arrests wouldn’t have been possible without the community’s help.  Allison said it was the citizens who witnessed the alleged drug activities occurring in their neighborhoods and took initiative to report them to local law enforcement.

In the end, the drug roundup was a team effort between law enforcement and the community. It’s good to see the community standing up to the county’s drug problem and taking measures to try to end it once and for all.

While many of the suspects arrested could learn their lesson behind bars, there are those who would probably benefit more from a rehabilitation center, which could permanently end their drug addiction.

Whatever the case may be, the Item applauds the officers for putting in the time and effort to fix the drug problem in the county.

Day in and day out, these officers deal with challenging circumstances making their job no easy task.

While there’s no way to stop illegal drug activities overnight, these operations could hopefully lead to cleaner streets in Pearl River County.