Pubdate: Sat, 20 Feb 2016
Source: Day, The (New London,CT)
Copyright: 2016 The Day Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.theday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/293
Author: Lindsay Boyle

HEROIN IN CROSS HAIRS OF NEW LONDON POLICE

Chief Margaret Ackley Says All Resources Deployed to Combat Crisis

New London - Police Chief Margaret Ackley said her department is 
focusing all of its resources to combat the city's heroin problem as 
a survey of state records shows that proportionately more people are 
dying from heroin in New London than other municipalities in the state.

According to statistics kept by the state Office of the Chief Medical 
Examiner from January 2012 through September 2015, heroin-related 
overdose deaths have been occurring at a disproportionately high rate 
in New London for years.

Of the 10 municipalities in Connecticut with the highest number of 
heroin-related overdose deaths during that period, New London by far 
has the highest average rate: 4.27 deaths for every 10,000 residents.

The next highest rate is in Torrington, where the average is 2.62 
deaths per 10,000 residents. On Thursday, Chief Ackley, who said 
she's made a point to attend all of the local roundtables and other 
events regarding the topic, said New London police are doing 
"everything we can" to combat the issue.

"We have all our resources on it day and night," she said. "We have a 
representative on the regional task force. We're one of the few towns 
that has our own individual narcotics division. We're part of the 
statewide narcotics division. We're part of every task force that 
comes through town."

Deputy Chief Peter Reichard said New London police also work with the 
FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement Administration 
and federal prosecutors during their investigations.

Reichard said of the department's 240 evidence entries so far this 
year, 38 included "heroin-related" evidence, from pills and powders 
to syringes and scales.

In recent months, Reichard said, uniformed officers doing narcotics 
enforcement have recovered a "steady" amount of such evidence. Much 
of the evidence comes from motor vehicle stops and responses to 
routine calls for service.

"What are we, 48 days into the year?" he asked, flipping through the 
evidence sheets. "For a small city of 27,000 people, there's a 
problem here, and it doesn't just affect the person using it."

When Lawrence + Memorial Hospital officials on Jan. 28 said they'd 
seen an "unprecedented number" of heroin overdoses in a two-day span 
- - 12, with one being fatal - New London police shifted the focus of 
their investigations.

"We concentrated on more of the heroin investigations as opposed to 
some other search warrants we were working on for marijuana and other 
products," Reichard explained. "We had a number of people who changed 
their focus toward that area."

New London police hypothesized during the late January spike in 
overdoses that fentanyl might have reemerged in the city, Reichard 
said. State laboratory test results confirmed much of the heroin 
seized during that period did contain fentanyl.

Fentanyl, which is 30 to 50 times stronger than heroin, is a 
synthetic opiate whose intended use is for patients with severe pain, 
especially those with cancer.

 From 2012 to September 2015, records from the state Office of the 
Chief Medical Examiner show that heroin was involved in 44 of New 
London's 65 accidental overdose deaths.

Of those 44 deaths, three included fentanyl as a contributing factor.

Only Bridgeport ( 58), New Haven (76), Waterbury ( 82) and Hartford ( 
113), all of which have substantially higher populations than New 
London, had more heroin-related overdose deaths in the same time span.

New London also has a high rate of non-resident, heroin-related 
overdose deaths within the city, with at least 16 of the 44 deceased 
having come from somewhere else.

"People are coming to the city to look for their drugs," Reichard 
said. "You don't see a lot of the sales in the suburbs. It's out 
there, we know it is, but it's more prevalent here."

Ackley said police are approaching the problem with a long-term perspective.

"Flashing the pan isn't the answer for us here and it never has 
been," Ackley said. "We're not just going to jump in and do something 
for a day or a week or a month. Everything I've learned from going to 
all these meetings about drug addiction and recovery is it's a 
long-term process and has to be dealt with every single day of a 
person's life."

That aspect of the heroin epidemic, Ackley said, has less to do with 
police than with trained medical personnel.

"When you talk about supply and demand, in law enforcement, we tend 
to focus on supply. We try to get the dealers to stop through arrests 
and convictions," Ackley said. "But demand is really where this needs 
to be addressed, and that is a health issue."

"Addictions are a terrible thing," she continued. "We all see it 
amongst our friends, our families, our acquaintances. It's a tragedy, 
the number of addictions that are out there. But that has to be dealt 
with from a medical perspective."
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