Pubdate: Fri, 25 Mar 2005
Source: Sentinel And Enterprise, The (MA)
Copyright: 2005 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Mid-States Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://sentinelandenterprise.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2498

MORE COPS NEEDED TO WIN DRUG WAR

For people like Paul McNamara, a Fitchburg police officer, the war on drugs 
in North Central Massachusetts is not an academic exercise. McNamara found 
himself fighting for his life one day while working on Fitchburg's STRAIT 
(Strategic Tactical Response and Intervention team) unit. A man attacked 
McNamara and Sgt. Joaquin Kilson on Crestview Lane after they stopped him 
for having an open container of beer.

"It was a fight for our lives," McNamara told the Sentinel & Enterprise. 
"It went from an encounter of, 'What's your name,' and 'You know you can't 
be drinking here,' into hand-to-hand combat very quickly." McNamara said 
the man came to Fitchburg to buy drugs, but he must have already been high 
when he arrived.

"We were on the ground fighting, the three of us, and we didn't know where 
our weapons or radios went. A woman nearby handed Sgt. Kilson his radio," 
McNamara said. "It took four or five of us to arrest him." McNamara and 
numerous other officers and law enforcement officials literally put their 
lives on the line every day to fight illegal drug trafficking and use. 
Today's installment of our special 10-part report, "Decades of 
Addiction-Drugs in North Central Mass," focuses on the people who fight the 
war on drugs. All of them, including McNamara's partners on the city of 
Fitchburg's new STRAIT initiative, Sgt. Joaquin Kilson and Joanne Bairos, 
deserve our recognition and support.

We believe they also deserve more help in fighting the war on drugs, 
particularly in a region that was initially slow to respond to the growing 
threat of drug trafficking.

Ask any of them, or any area police chief, and they will tell you they're 
doing the best they can with the resources they have. But they are chasing 
drug dealers who are increasingly well-financed, loaded with high-tech 
equipment, and more mobile than ever. Through no fault of their own, they 
are outgunned, outmanned and being outspent. If we truly want to win the 
war on drugs, the region needs to win it on Main Street, in the 
neighborhoods and on every street corner where drug dealers ply their 
illicit trade.

This, of course, will cost money. But nothing will help the region grow 
more economically than eliminating, or at least drastically reducing, the 
amount of drug dealing on our streets. It's time to send a message that 
drug users and dealers aren't welcome here anymore.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth