The city of Fayette has approved funding to purchase an incinerator for drug evidence disposal in partnership with other Howard County law enforcement agencies.
The move comes two weeks after the publication of a KBIA investigation that detailed the city’s lack of access to a reliable method of drug evidence disposal.
In late June, a five-part series called “The Weight of Evidence” aired and published on KBIA and in the Columbia Missourian. The series investigated a December 2023 incident in which drugs in marked Fayette Police Department evidence bags were discovered in a public dumpster behind a Fayette grocery store. The series also highlighted Fayette’s lack of access to an incinerator, which is what the Drug Enforcement Agency recommends that law enforcement agencies use to destroy drug evidence.
Fayette community member Stephanie “Stevie” Gilpin, who shared her concerns with the Board in December after drug evidence was found in a dumpster, said in an email that she took the information presented in “The Weight of Evidence” to a July 9 Board of Aldermen meeting and shared it with the board. At that same meeting, Gilpin said Fayette Police Chief David Ford spoke about plans to create a partnership with other law enforcement agencies in Howard County to purchase an incinerator and asked the board for funding.
Fayette City Clerk Judy Thompson said $2,000 in funding was approved,- but it would only cover a fraction of the cost of an incinerator.
“Our board went ahead and approved the $2,000,” Thompson said. “That would be our portion. So that's all really that's been done on it.”
According to Elastec, a company that makes drug incinerators for law enforcement, the units can cost around $6,000 after shipping and taxes. Thompson said the Fayette Police Department is currently working on a proposal that would bring together the Howard County Sheriff’s office, Glasgow Police and Fayette Police Department to purchase an incinerator that would be housed in Fayette but available to all law enforcement agencies in Howard County.
Glasgow Chief of Police Tyler Polson said the Glasgow Police Department received the proposal from Fayette and plans to discuss the partnership at a city council meeting on Aug. 12.
“I have to get approval from the council for anything like that, before I go into partnership with them,” Polson said.
Polson said that the proposal is in its very early stages right now and will require approval from several different entities before a partnership is formed. But if that plan goes forward with proper approval, it would allow the departments to pool resources and purchase an incinerator for the whole county to use.
The current proposed partnership includes Fayette and Glasgow police departments and the Howard County Sheriff’s Department, which serves all of Howard County. Since Fayette is the county seat, Polson said that the current plan is to have the incinerator housed in Fayette, and other departments would be able to take their drug evidence to Fayette to be incinerated.
“It’s all going to be there, is kind of what the understanding is, and then we’ll just transport over to Fayette whenever we need to use the incinerator,” Polson said.
For now, Howard County law enforcement agencies must wait a bit longer for the approval process to move forward before a partnership is solidified and talks of purchasing an incinerator can begin. But for community members like Gilpin, it’s a step in the right direction.
“I am glad that the concern was heard, a new policy was made, and for now a system is being prepared to take initiative to keep the public and community safe,” Gilpin said.
