Grand Rapids Police are adding more resources to fight the opioid epidemic.

Wood TV 8 reports that since Oct. 10, GRPD have been adding an additional detective to each overdose death to help hunt down the dealer.

Prior to the new procedure, one detective had been sent to focus on how the person died. The second detective will now search for the source of the drugs.

On Oct. 12, 31-year-old Joshua VanEssen was found deceased in a bathroom at the Rapid station downtown Grand Rapids. His family says he died from an overdose.

Larry Perryman is believed to have supplied VanEssen with heroin. Police say he was tracked down and arrested the same day. Perryman faces life in prison.

GRPD Lt. Terry Dixon credits the new policy for the arrest and told Wood TV 8,

“What we hope to accomplish is eventually, we want to prevent these deaths. We are trying our best to eliminate tragedies, eliminate deaths, eliminate the pain to families.”

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