Keeping drugs off the streets is one thing, but changing the behavior of the people who put them there is an entirely different thing.

The first step in limiting drug traffic and changing behavior is communication, according to Flathead County Deputy Attorney Ken Park. What ends up being argued in court begins long before any charges are filed, with cooperation between his office and the Northwest Drug Task Force.

“We work together regularly,” Park said. “The commander of the drug team and I go out to lunch on a regular basis to discuss certain trends and see where things are going and what we need to watch out for.”

Park’s past experience working with drug interdiction in Oklahoma has been helpful in establishing communication between the County Attorney’s Office and the task force. That familiarity with drug enforcement has led to a tight relationship between the two agencies.

“Drug teams generally need somebody that they can go to,” Park said. “The drug team here has my home telephone number, my cell number, they’re notified if I’m going to be out of town. I work really close with those guys.”

Such a close working relationship also helps to limit the gap between the current conditions on the street and what penalties are being sought in the courtroom.

In fact, at Park’s request and with the support of Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan, county prosecutors will no longer be offering deferred sentences for people who commit crimes involving methamphetamine, heroin and opiate pain killers — even if it is the person’s first offense.

That means no one who commits such a crime will be able to have it wiped from their record after completing their punishment. According to Park, the minimum punishment they will seek in the cases are suspended sentences, although marijuana offenders still will have the opportunity for deferred sentences.

“We’re trying to make the Flathead Valley an uncomfortable place to be a drug dealer,” Park said.

One reason for the new policy is a trend on the street that has not been lost on county prosecutors — a noted increase in heroin traffic.

“We are seeing this trend, and we are definitely trying to put our foot in it. We need to stop this one,” Park said. “It’s a terrible, terrible, family/community-wrecking type of drug, and it needs to be put down in a hurry.”

Park pointed out a phenomenon also familiar to law enforcement in which the rise and fall of heroin and opiate pain killers are connected. As crackdowns on prescription medication abuse increase and controls are tightened, less of the drugs are available on the street and thus heroin traffic increases, and vice versa.

Other trends Park has noticed include a slight rise in methamphetamine traffic — although he noted there is little being manufactured in the area anymore and the purity is down — and a decrease in marijuana traffic.