Combating the Abuse of Heroin and Other Opioids; a Strategy by the
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Selecting a Treatment Plan
- Communicating with Our Community
- NPD Drug Strategy
- We strongly encourage residents to call 911 to report drug activity in progress. Find Treatment
- Prescription Drug and Syringe Disposal
- Information for Owners of Rental Property
- Appendix – Drug Treatment Facilities
- Substance Abuse Free Bed Hotline
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Combating the Abuse of Heroin and Prescription Painkillers; a Strategy by the Norwood Police Department 
William G. Brooks III Chief of Police August 2012 This document establishes a strategy for the Norwood Police Department in its mission to suppress drug distribution and abuse. Copies have been distributed to all Department personnel and it has been posted on the Department’s website. The Norwood Police Department shares its strategy with the public in a spirit of candor - and because we need everyone’s help. The Challenge Many communities in the United States struggle with issues related to drug dependence. Over the past few years Norwood has experienced an upsurge in the abuse of heroin and prescription opioids. (Opioids are drugs that are usually prescribed to relieve pain, and include oxycodone, hydrocodone and fentanyl.) We are not alone; law enforcement and public health officials consider heroin and opioid abuse in New England to be the region’s most significant drug threat.1 Treatment admission rates in New England for heroin and prescription pain relievers are among the highest in the nation. 2 In fact, data from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration indicates that the number of heroin-related treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in New England from 2003 through 2009 exceeded admissions related to all other illicit substances combined.3 Although heroin has been around since the late 1800’s, the spike in abuse in eastern Massachusetts is fueled at least in part by the abuse of opioids available with a prescription. Oxycodone, found with acetaminophen in tablets like Percocet®, Roxicet® and Endocet®, and to a lesser extent hydrocodone, as found in Vicodin®, have become popular drugs of abuse. (From 2001 through 2010, OxyContin led the way as the most widely abused prescription opioid in Massachusetts. However, the reformulating of the drug in 2010 by its manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, has significantly reduced the drug’s popularity on the street.) In eastern Massachusetts, blue 30 milligram oxycodone tablets, known on the street as “blues” or “Perc 30’s”, are currently the most sought-after prescription drug. People who abuse prescription opioids often crush the tablets into a powder and snort it. Over a short period of time, many become addicted and then switch to heroin because of its wide availability, higher potency, and greater affordability. 4 Although most heroin users initially snort it, many eventually progress to intravenous use. Some addicts continue to abuse both prescription drugs and heroin, obtaining each based upon availability or affordability.5 Many Norwood residents are aware of the problem. The rise in heroin use, combined with the legalization of hypodermic syringes by the Massachusetts legislature in 2006, has resulted in increased disposal of needles in public places, which has in turn brought increased attention to the drug abuse problem. Drug addiction fuels crime, endangers young people and those who are susceptible to addiction, and eats away at the fabric of a community. Drug abuse is a complex problem with no easy solutions; simplistic approaches will bring only failure and disappointment. The Norwood Police Department has designed this comprehensive strategy to address the problem head-on. While our objectives are to arrest drug dealers, help landlords evict them, leverage addicts into treatment and educate the public, our ultimate goal is to reduce the number of people who use heroin and abuse prescription opioids. While progress towards this goal will be difficult to measure, it must nonetheless remain our focus. Strategic Policing The Norwood Police Department uses a crime control strategy designed around the principles of the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Compstat approach. It is applied by our personnel to all aspects of the Department’s drug control program.
Pursuing Drug Dealers The acquisition of drugs can occur in a number of ways:
Most drug deals are not spontaneous events and communication between dealers and customers by cell phone or text messaging is the norm. Some dealers use untraceable phones and third-party vehicles in an attempt to avoid capture. Because of the secretive nature of drug transactions and the sophistication of many dealers, proactive investigative techniques and the cultivation of confidential informants are essential. Drug control is not the concern of detectives alone; it is the responsibility of all the Department’s divisions and personnel. Detectives are, however, the tip of the spear in the Department’s effort to control the distribution of drugs. In addition to conducting investigations into suspected drug dealers, the detectives of the Department’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation are tasked with the following:
In assessing investigative options, detectives must balance the need to cut off sources of supply through in-depth investigations with the need to timely address conditions that affect the safety and quality of life in local neighborhoods. Working with Landlords Most street and mid-level drug dealers live in rented apartments, so the Norwood Police Department encourages landlords to evict dealers who sell drugs from their properties. Detectives often carry the landlord’s telephone number when they conduct a raid or buy-bust operation, and call him or her as soon as drugs are found. In all cases, property owners are notified in writing when the Department catches a tenant selling drugs from a rented unit. There are documents available to the public that landlords can utilize in evicting tenants who sell drugs. Property owners have a stake in preventing drug dealing from their buildings because state and federal forfeiture laws provide for the seizing of properties where owners knew or should have known that drug activity was taking place. When landlords take decisive action, tenants often move out as soon as eviction proceedings begin. To assist landlords with their obligation to remove tenants who sell drugs, the Department has posted on its website a list of public documents available to landlords evicting tenants who deal drugs and helpful instructions for beginning eviction proceedings. Those materials are also available at Police Headquarters. Drug Intervention Most drug investigations target people who sell drugs, so raids and undercover operations are seldom effective at addressing drug addiction directly. Following the arrest of a dealer, most of his or her customers merely find a new source. This ongoing demand fuels new supplies, and so it sometimes seems that no progress is being made. The Norwood Police Department will institute a Drug Intervention program whereby officers approach addicts and offer them assistance in finding treatment. The technique can be particularly effective following the arrest of a dealer, when some addicts are temporarily left without a source. Addicts who seek out the Department’s assistance in finding treatment are typically not prosecuted based on what they tell the officer about their addiction.
Once an addict has admitted that he or she is addicted and needs help, the Police Department can assist in finding a treatment facility.
The Norwood Police Department strongly urges people who are addicted to consult their primary care physician or a health professional for assistance in choosing the proper treatment. Relapses are a common and unfortunate aspect of recovery. When they occur, it is imperative that the addicted person seek readmission immediately. We hope we can serve as a resource for the families of addicts. Section 35 Drug abuse is a disease, but unlike other diseases those who are afflicted do not always seek help on their own. Massachusetts law allows a district court judge to commit a drug addict to a treatment facility. Massachusetts General Law Chapter 123 § 35, known simply in the court system as a Section 35, allows “any police officer, physician, spouse, blood relative, guardian or court official to petition any district court or any division of the juvenile court department for an order of commitment of a person whom he has reason to believe is an alcoholic or a substance abuser” if the abuse “substantially injures his health or substantially interferes with his social or economic functioning; or … he has lost the power of self-control over the use of such controlled substances.” Oftentimes, family members are reluctant to petition the district court themselves for fear of retaliation or a damaged relationship, so the authority of a police officer to fill this role can be a helpful tool. If a judge finds that the person is addicted and at risk, the judge can order him or her to be committed for a period not to exceed 30 days. Addicts are sometimes offered the choice of entering a detox on their own or facing the potential that they will be committed by the court. As a result, many addicts opt to accept the offer of treatment. Patrol Strategy Intelligence-led policing refers to the use of intelligence to guide policing strategies and tactics. Most police agencies receive intelligence; the good ones push it out to patrol to enhance its effectiveness. The NYPD Compstat model of accurate and timely intelligence, rapid deployment of resources, use of effective tactics and relentless follow-up and assessment is particularly applicable to counter-drug patrol strategy. The patrol division deploys officers in marked and unmarked vehicles, on bicycles and on foot, in uniform and in plainclothes. Sergeants have the authority to deploy Department resources and personnel for maxim impact. The Department disseminates to patrol officers the identities of known dealers and users by loading the information on cruiser laptops. Areas of known drug activity, gleaned from neighborhood tips, arrest and field interview data, syringe recovery sites and information from informants is routed to the patrol division on an ongoing basis.
In the wake of a raid or drug arrest, the Department will send directed deterrent patrols into the neighborhood to establish a presence, deter a resurgence of drug activity and instill a feeling of security among residents. Patrol officers play an additional role in the Department’s counter-drug strategy. By interacting with and often arresting people who possess drugs and commit street-level crime, they are in the best position to develop intelligence and cultivate confidential informants, the underlying tenets of most productive narcotic investigations. The Department will offer training to patrol officers in these crucial areas, and will assign officers to the investigations that stem from their efforts.
The Norwood Police Department utilizes its website, norwoodma.gov/police, to exchange information with the community. The website has a “Drug Control” tab that brings visitors to the following links and resources:
The Norwood Police Department has sent a letter to all Norwood physicians, dentists and endodontists asking for their assistance in addressing the abuse of prescription opioids. Research shows that most people who become addicted to painkillers began by taking pills from family members or their medicine cabinets. As such, the Department asked that health professionals warn their patients about the potential for abuse, encourage them to dispose of old medications as soon as the need for them has passed and remove medicines from medicine cabinets prior to real estate open houses. The letter contained information about the Department’s drug disposal receptacle in the lobby at Police Headquarters. Educating the Community The Norwood Police Department can provide an additional service to the community by providing education about drug abuse. The Department’s School Resource Officers are already assigned to the high school and middle school and can assist in the education of students in all grades. The Police Department will also make officers and detectives available to civic groups that request programs about crime or drug-related issues. Measuring Success Measuring the success of anti-crime initiatives can be difficult, and the progress of a drug control strategy is particularly challenging to quantify because some of the usual barometers can be misleading. After all, an increase in drug arrests can mean that the police are working harder, or conversely that drug abuse is up. The Norwood Police Department’s goal to reduce the abuse of heroin and prescription opioids requires that we focus on the people who use drugs. The Department will look to the fourth Compstat principle - relentless follow-up and assessment – and track as best we can the drug use status of identified heroin and opioid users. Statistics will be hard to come by, but the tracking of data about the arrest and removal of dealers from our neighborhoods, combined with assessments of addicts who have been referred to treatment, should provide the Department with empirical data that will continue to influence our strategy. Appendix – Drug Treatment Facilities
1 U.S. Department of Justice, National Drug Intelligence Center, Drug Market Analysis, 2011 2 Ibid. 3 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), 2004–2009. 4 Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, interview by NDIC FIO, February 2011. 5 New England HIDTA Task Forces, interviews by NDIC IA, February 2011. 6 Jack Maple, The Crime Fighter, (New York: Doubleday, 1999) 32 Yüklə 96,5 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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