On 3/9/15, two officers with the Benton Police Department and their K-9’s were nationally recognized at the 4th Annual National Criminal Enforcement Association (NCEA) conference in Virginia. The two officers that received awards were Sgt. Brian Bigelow, and Officer Begoon and K-9 Ares.
Ofc. Begoon was awarded the Drug Seizure of the Month for October of 2014 for seizing 506 pounds of marijuana. Ofc. Begoon was also awarded the 2014 Largest Street Level Marijuana Seizure award for the 506 pounds of marijuana along with 10 pounds of hashish and the seizure of $36,000. Sgt. Bigelow was awarded the 2014 Largest Street Level Cocaine Seizure for seizing 3.18 Kilograms of Cocaine.
The NCEA conference is a national drug interdiction training session that included over 900 officers from all across the United States and Canada. The training consisted of 40 hours of both classroom and hands-on training in such areas as; criminal interdiction techniques of passenger and commercial vehicles, interdiction for missing and abducted children, K-9 operations, legal issues, courtroom testimony, interdiction of terrorist operations, and officer safety.
Sgt. Bigelow and Officer Begoon are both part of the Benton Police Department BICEP (Benton Interstate Criminal Enforcement Patrol) http://www.bentonpolice.org/about/recent-news/758-benton-interstate-criminal-enforcement-patrol-program-bicep?highlight=WyJiaWNlcCJd , which is part of a grant funded program. The Benton Police Department is part of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which is a program that provides assistance to Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States.
It was a great training conference honoring all of the officers from around the country for what they do, and especially officers from the Benton Police Department. It was a great opportunity for our BICEP officers to attend and be honored for their hard work and dedication to the city of Benton.
