The U.S. Postal Service donated retired mail boxes to the Dakota Dyer Foundation especially for its campaign to help law enforcement agencies in the fight against drugs. The first boxes were delivered Tuesday to the Villa Rica Police Department and the Bremen Police Department by Lance Dyer, whose 14-year-old son Dakota died March 10 after ingesting synthetic marijuana.
“We took great pride in delivering these to Chief (Keith) Pesnell of Bremen and Chief (Michael) Mansour of Villa Rica,” Lance Dyer said.
The first two boxes went to Bremen and Villa Rica, respectively, because Bremen was Dakota’s hometown and Villa Rica is where he is buried and where his sisters live.
The boxes — which are required to be specially painted so as to not be confused with active USPS mail boxes — are specifically meant for people to drop off their unwanted prescription drugs at any time. They can also be used to anonymously drop of illegal narcotics such as marijuana.
“These boxes will give anyone in the community the ability to discard outdated, unused or illegal drugs in a safe and secure manner at their local law enforcement offices with no questions asked,” Dyer said. “It will provide a tool to help keep pills and others drugs out of the hands of children, drug addicts and help our local water departments by not having these drugs in our water supply.”
Villa Rica PD has always allowed residents to drop off unwanted prescription drugs, but typically got a lot of response when they would hold a specific day to do so once a quarter. Officials are hoping that with a bigger box located in the lobby will attract more attention and make the quarterly drug drop-off days obsolete.
“The VRPD supports this idea and wants to thank the Dyer Foundation for supplying it to our department,” Mansour said. “We also believe it will be very helpful because it is an ongoing opportunity instead of once a quarter.”
Boxes are also being delivered this week to the police departments in Buchanan and Tallapoosa, as well as the sheriff’s departments in Haralson County and Douglas County. Dyer reports that he’s had more than 70 requests from other law enforcement agencies from Savannah to Tennessee who’ve heard of the program and have requested boxes through www.dakotadyerfoundation.org.
“We encourage any jurisdiction to contact us and we will be more than happy to donate one to them free of charge,” Dyer said. “Maybe we are helping one at a time.”
In addition to the Dakota Dyer Foundation and the USPS, others who have helped with the program include Williams Body Shop and Modern Woodmen of America.
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