Chief warns:

Police Chief Jim Agner warned the Petersburg Rotary Club members on Wednesday that a jump in heroin use in town is likely to cause property crimes to increase.

“We have a heroin problem in town and it’s epidemic in Alaska,” Agner said.

He estimated that Petersburg is consuming as much as $750,000 a year of heroin.

“With that level of heroin use, we’re going to have a huge increase in property crimes. The money has to come from somewhere. If you have a $300 a day habit, you’ve gotta come up with $300 a day,” the Chief stated.

He added that home invasions currently happen to people involved in t...