Picayune Police Department increases effectiveness of drug busts, leading to decrease in offenses
PICAYUNE, Miss. (WXXV) — It’s in the news every day: drugs making their way into the hands of community members, changing lives forever.
“If a community thinks that they don’t have fentanyl, meth or anything in their community, they’re very naive,” Picayune Police Chief Joe Quave said.
The Picayune Police Department is finding that with deeper investigations into seemingly unrelated crimes, they’ve been able to significantly limit the reach of drugs in the community.
“We have to also look beyond these smaller offenses to see if they’re tied to something else,” Quave explained. “Sure enough, one recently was. There was a shoplifting that was tied to drug trades and drug sales, you know, they started investigating that. One thing turns into another, before you know it, we’re doing a search warrant for drugs, which started from a shoplifting. So it’s just the thoroughness in these investigations, whether they start immediately from a crime that’s committed or whether this is a longer term investigation. It may start for different reasons, but at the end of the day, we wound up investigating several drug-related offenses.”
As a result of this ramped-up response, there has been a steady decrease in the number of drug-related offenses or overdoses in Picayune.
According to Quave, there were 182 drug-related arrests and 58 drug equipment violations in 2024. Through roughly eight months in 2025, those numbers are down to 101 drug-related arrests and 29 drug equipment violations. Additionally, there have been 13 overdoses this year, down from 34 in 2023 and 23 in 2024. Although these numbers are still expected to rise in the final months of the year, Quave tells WXXV that the yearly totals should still show a significant decrease.
“In a perfect world, you want that number to be zero,” Quave said. “You really do [want that] at the end of the day, and anything other than, to us, is a disappointment.”
The department’s diligence in stopping the use and trafficking of drugs, especially fentanyl and other opioids, is largely due to the extra effort that officers put in daily.
“They work their tail off, they put their heart into it,” Quave said. “We live here, we work here, take pride in it, and so… and it shows in their efforts. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Aside from his department, Quave credits other organizations within Pearl River County and the Magnolia State with helping combat the drug crisis.
“We work very closely with the sheriff’s department, have very good relationships with them,” Quave explained. “Externally, the Fentanyl Strike Force from [Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s] office, we work closely with them — our drug investigators do. So at the end of the day, as long as it’s taken off the street, as long as lives are saved, we’re happy.”
