There are tons of people who are not a friend of Demopolis Police Chief Tommie Reese.

They can’t stand him; him or his officers.

They’re taking money out of these people’s pockets.

They’re robbing them of an opportunity to make a living.

I can name most of them. You know who they are, too.

We’ve had most of their names in the newspaper.

In a span of several months, through the work of the Demopolis Police Department and its cooperation with other agencies, the flow of drugs on our streets has at least experienced a hiccup.

You can’t stop it. Chief Reese will tell you that himself.

There’s too much money involved. Too many people. When you take one down there’s one right behind him waiting to take his place.

What you can do is make it more difficult. You can interrupt supply. You can turn the heat up so high that even the most hardened thug will think twice.

When you’ve interjected that hesitation – planted that seed of doubt – you’ve won, really.

When it becomes “too hard”, people will give up. It’s human nature for some.

I spoke with Chief Reese and Selma Chief of Police Riley yesterday at length about their budding relationship; a crime fighting relationship between their two departments that rivals that of Batman and Robin.

Both were excited about what was behind them – a 20-plus person drug sweep in Demopolis in July and a nearly 30-person sweep in Selma last week.

Think about that. In two joint exercises, more than 50 people were arrested. That doesn’t count the arrests made every day from July 1 to now. That’s 50 suspected drug dealers and users in, essentially 48 hours. That’s incredible.

But as excited as they were about what has been accomplished, the real enthusiasm came through about what lies ahead.

This relationship is just getting started. Fifty-something people are charged with a variety of drug crimes early in this joint venture. What’s it going to be like when they get it streamlined; when they figure each other out and this whole initiative is seamless?

It’s going to be bad.

Bad for those who don’t like Chief Reese, Chief Riley and their officers, and that list will continue to grow. You can find those names weekly in this newspaper. Just look under the header “Arrest Reports.”

And when you check the names off that list. Check it against those appreciative of all the hard work those men and women do to keep this city – the City of Selma and every one in between – safe.

I think you’ll find that second list is much longer.