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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Residents at the Inukshuk housing co-op are upset after it took police two days to respond to complaints about suspicious baggies found littering yards, which they fear were used to carry drugs.

They say the 97 sandwich bags had a white residue in them and had all the corners cut out. They were found by a mother of five around her house in the Frame Lake South neighbourhood last Friday.

Const. Andre Duval, left, picks up a garbage bag full of 97 suspicious baggies from Jacqulyn Couch on Sunday. Crouch was upset after two days went by without a response from the police. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

Jacqulyn Couch said despite calling the RCMP that evening and a few times after that, police didn't show up until Sunday around noon.

"I phoned them and, more or less, I feel they blew me off," said Couch.

"That was at 5:30 when I phoned them on Friday. When I phoned them back at quarter after seven, the lady said to me 'well, it's Friday and it's busy' and I said to her that I'm not looking for an investigation, I just want someone to come and clean them up.

"I don't feel that I should touch them, I don't want the kids to touch them."

Couch said at one point a police cruiser did show up, but it just drove around the block.

"He drove in, drove around the loop, around the back of my unit, and then drove back out. They didn't get out of their car, they didn't so much as put their coffee down that was in their hand to have a look between the houses," said Couch, adding that it was at this point that she gave up on the police.

"I said to my husband, 'if we don't pick them up, they're going to be here all summer.'"

So Couch and her husband went out and gathered the baggies themselves into a garbage bag.

Rita Lantz, one of Couch's neighbours and a mother herself, said she also worried about the lack of response from police. She said in the three days the bags were lying around, the neighbourhood kids were in danger.

"One baggie could be left (on the ground), a kid comes by and sees something in it and wonders 'oh what is this? Powdered candy?' Or who knows what it is, right? You know, kids will pick up a piece of gum off the street and pop it in their mouth," said Lantz.

When Yellowknifer showed up on the scene at noon on Sunday, a police officer had just arrived to pick up the suspicious baggies.

"Phone us anytime, I mean, I hope this doesn't discourage you from phoning again," said Const. Andre Duval, an RCMP officer from New Brunswick who was serving his first day on the force in Yellowknife.

Staff Sergeant Mike Brandford said he didn't know why it took so long for the police to arrive.

"I intend to talk to the members (of the RCMP) to see. Why did it take that long? I really don't know until I get in touch with the members," said Brandford.

"We had 110 prisoners in on Friday and Saturday night, it was also - I'm not saying it was because of this, but it usually picks up - it was Super Soccer weekend."

Brandford said the baggies were tested and no drug residue was found, but the corners were cut out. He said that this is indicative of use by drug dealers, as the corners are sometimes used for packaging drugs.