Nassau Heroin Arrests Up More Than 40 Percent

Heroin arrests countywide have jumped more than 40 percent this year based on figures through April 1, police said at a heroin discussion forum earlier this week.

The forum, held at East Meadow High School, was put on by County Legislator Norma Gonsalves and doubled as an anonymous drop-off site for illegal drugs or unused prescription medication.

According to police statistics, police arrested 374 people in the county for heroin related offenses in 2009. So far in 2010, police have arrested 174 people — up 50 arrests from the same point last year — which police said is proof that the department's methods are working.

"We've got approximately 30 detectives, police officers, dogs, devoted strictly, every day, to heroin enforcement," said Bill Flanagan, the county's second deputy police commissioner.

Flanagan said that County Executive Ed Mangano has followed through on his campaign promise to provide more help to the department in its efforts to fight heroin use.

"There are no, I'll tell you straight up, no, organized distribution networks within the county of Nassau for heroin," Flanagan said. "Every time one pops up, frankly, the police department squashes it. We put our foot on their necks."

Flanagan said parents should know that the image they have of a heroin addict should not be of a dysfunctional junkie, as the problem has become so prevalent that athletes and honors students are using. He added that in addition to instituting programs to stop children from ever using heroin, they have had more success in stopping those who are already dealing.

The 174 people arrested through the first quarter of 2010 is already more than the number arrested (151) in all of 2007.

Though police have been able to stop heroin networks from proliferating in the county, users have responded by purchasing in New York City and then bringing the heroin back to the county to make small deals to friends, Flanagan said.

He said that the county is identifying license plates that they frequently identify in heroin hot spots in order to stop the users before they deal in the county.

Janice Talento, co-founder of Drug Free Massapequa, said that while she has high hopes for the new Too Good for Drugs program, she was disappointed in the turnout Wednesday night.

"[A forum like this] should be very effective, unfortunately it's not," Talento said of the mostly empty auditorium. Approximately 40 people attended the forum based on a head count. "Unfortunately, today, nobody does anything for nothing, so you almost have to bribe people to go."

Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey was also on hand and spoke about the department's efforts to stop the spread of heroin.

"We are making some progress," Mulvey said. "I think the biggest hurdle we got over was getting the community to accept the fact that we have a problem. We were not embarrassed to say back in 2007 that we have a problem. I can assure you we've assembled a team, all they do, every day, is focus on this heroin problem."

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