State undercover narcotics team reports staffing rebound, focuses on meth and fentanyl

Lieutenant Ray Varela Rollette, the new lieutenant assigned to the Huron Undercover Narcotics Team, told the Alpena City Council on July 21 that HUNThas recovered staffing in recent months and will focus enforcement on methamphetamine and fentanyl. The council voted to receive and file the teamannual report.

The presentation matters because prosecutors and local law enforcement said they are seeing serious drug-related harms. Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Mishinski, who identified herself as both prosecutor and Alpena resident during public comment, said she welcomed the teamand its support for prosecutions: "any support that the city obviously continues to give, to combating that and, leading to less victimization here in our community, due to drug dealing, drug usage, and helping with addiction. I just really wanna thank you for that."

Rollette told council members that HUNTcovered a four-county area including Alpena, and that investigators carried out 53 drug investigations in 2024 despite staffing that had dipped to about 1.2 personnel at one point. "Methamphetamine specifically is the main thing, followed by fentanyl," he said, adding that recent local staffing increases have already produced higher seizure numbers than 2024. He described HUNT as a multi-jurisdictional detective unit that provides specialized investigative capacity and state police resources to support local departments across the four-county area.

Council members asked whether the increase in seizures reflected more drugs in the community or stronger staffing and tactics; Rollette replied that the higher numbers primarily reflect more detectives and proactive operations rather than a clear rise in overall supply, and said a staffed, proactive team also serves as a deterrent to "large open air drug market(s)."

The council voted to receive and file the 2024 annual report. No new ordinance or budget action was taken at that time; the vote was procedural to place the report on the city record.

Ending: Council members and the prosecutor stressed continuing support for the multi-jurisdictional team as Alpena-area prosecutors and police pursue drug cases and related victim services.