Police have made 136 drug busts in DeKalb County since December 1988, but NIU students did not contribute significantly to the local drug problem.

NIU students do not bring many drugs into the county, said Capt. Rick Rokusek of the North Central Narcotics Task Force.

“The university is not that much of an influence on the problem,” he said. “I sure can’t point to NIU and say ‘that’s a university with a drug problem.’ That’s just not true.”

Smaller communities in DeKalb County often have more drug trafficking than most people think, he said. “You drive past these small towns and think ‘nothing is going on here,’ but the problem is there,” he said.

But drugs are found wherever the largest number of people live, making DeKalb the county’s hot spot, Rokusek said.

DeKalb County drug dealers work much like dealers in Chicago but with “smaller amounts of dope,” he said.

The 136 DeKalb County drug-related arrests seized 3,355 grams of cocaine, 796,425 grams of marijuana and 5,812 grams of other drugs including hallucinogens like LSD and mushrooms, Rokusek said.

The task force also seized almost $40,000 in cash and about $40,000 in vehicles from area drug dealers which funnels back into the task force, he said.