One reason why Jefferson County now leads Indiana’s counties in the number of intravenous drug arrests per capita is because of stepped-up law enforcement, Chief Sheriff’s Deputy David Thomas said Saturday during part two of “Life with HIV: It Won’t Happen to Me and It Won’t Happen Here,” an event co-sponsored by Ivy Tech and the Jefferson County Health Department.
After hearing of the HIV outbreak earlier this year in Scott County, Thomas said the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office increased traffic patrols on the main highways leading to Scott County, where many local drug users go to buy heroin and other illegal or illicit drugs.
“It worked,” he said. “We found people with narcotics (in their cars) and people with outstanding warrants.”
The increased arrests “shows we are proactive, but it also shows we have a problem. ... We’re doing everything in law enforcement that we feel we can do,” especially being a small agency with limited manpower and monetary resources, he said. “We’re not New York or Chicago or L.A. There’s only so much money and so many people”
While no one in Jefferson County has tested positive for HIV – the virus that causes AIDS – since the beginning of 2015, the effects of the epidemic in Scott County have crossed over the county line. The number of reports of used hypodermic needles being found in public spaces and residential neighborhoods has exploded, Thomas said.
And, of course, crime is on the rise. Drug users “are the people that pick a street and rifle through every car to get change. These are your burglars, thieves – and all of it is to make that fix. That’s all.”
Thomas and Lt. Delmer Gross of the Indiana State Police both admitted that they are “old school” cops whose first instinct is to round up all of the drug users and throw them in jail.
But in today’s world, that isn’t going to work.
Though he was against the idea of a needle exchange when it was first proposed in Austin because he felt it would merely promote more drug use, Gross said he eventually changed his mind after attending a meeting with the first responders in Scott County. “By the end, I realized that it’s not a good choice, but it’s the only choice” to combat spread of the HIV and hepatitis C, which occurs when drug users share needles. “My world kind of changed after that meeting that night.”
The needle exchange in Austin requires drug users to sign up for the program so that they can bring in their used needles (which are then safely discarded) and get a supply of new needles for the week. That means law enforcement must work with people who they know are breaking the law, which goes against all the training officers have, Gross said.
Health department officials want the drug users in the program to come in, get tested for diseases and get them connected to services that are out there that could help get them into treatment, Gross said.
“We want to be a deterrent, but they couldn’t get people to come in (for services or to exchange needles) if they were afraid of being arrested,” but, he added, “we still arrest folks if they have drugs or paraphernalia on them” when they come in.
Law enforcement and the health department “still butt heads, but we work together well. We have to,” he said. And it’s working. “I think we’re at a more manageable state. (HIV) is still going to spread, but not as much. The fire’s not out, but it’s contained.”
In addition to working with social services, Gross said he changed the way his troopers patrol Scott County and its communities.
He encourages his troopers to get out of their cruisers and talk to people and be visible.
“We didn’t want to give the perception of martial law in Austin, but we wanted dealers, users and prostitutes to know we’re there and watching them,” Gross said. “I had mixed feelings about it, but now I see that people feel better when my guys are out of their cars and talking to people. What I see and have heard is there are less people walking around like they’re zombies. What I hear from folks is they are not seeing as much of that anymore. Our efforts are working, it’s just not done.”
Both Thomas and Gross also said their agencies must rely on residents to be alert and call either the sheriff’s office or the state police with information about illegal activity, and to be as specific as possible.
“Keep your eyes and ears open,” Thomas said. “Listen. Watch. Anything you hear, anything you see, tell us. Most arrests come from you guys helping us. Without you, it wouldn’t be possible.”
Gross agreed, but said all information has to be as specific as possible. “Tell us, what exactly did you see? Start paying attention. When did it occur? Where did it occur? Who is doing what, and exactly what? How many times? Identify folks. Give us a description of the vehicle, license plates.”
If a camera is available, snap a picture, he said. “A photograph is worth a thousand words. ... We have to work together. We can’t always do everything by ourselves. People don’t always (commit) crimes in front of us.”
D.J. Mote, Jefferson County’s chief deputy prosecutor, said the court system, too, is moving away from simply incarcerating drug users and addicts and toward getting them into treatment.
“Our office believes strongly that we have to address this from (the perspective of) supply and demand,” Mote said.
By focusing on incarcerating dealers who bring the drugs into our community to sell and to get others addicted, or continuing their habits,” the county can reduce supply. Conversely, focusing on getting addicts and users into treatment programs reduces demand.
Mote said individuals who are accepted into the county’s 18-month Drug Court are given chances to be successful in treatment and get off drugs. If they cannot do it, then they will do prison time, he said.
“The fear of prison has to be real. If there are no real consequences, people ... won’t change their behavior,” Mote said. “That’s one tool we use to force them to choose a different way. We give them several chances, but if they don’t make changes, prison is the only option. ... If you graduate, we dismiss your charges. If you fail, you go to prison.”
Not everyone does make it to graduation, however. “It’s a very difficult program.”
But even in prison, some can get the help they need. Corrections has a nine- to 12-month intensive inpatient program, during which addicts in treatment are separated from the rest of the prison population, Mote said. People in the program are in classes six hours a day, five days a week.
If they graduate, the are “modified out” and released to the Community Corrections program, where they are monitored for the remainder of their sentence, Mote explained. “It has proven to be a very effective tool in reducing the demand side.”
For the supply side, the system is similar because most of those dealing in the community are addicts who simply are selling to support their own habit, he said.
The serious dealers, however, can’t be allowed to simply say “I’m an addict, I need help” to get out of such major felony charges.
“If they want treatment, we’ll get it for them,” Mote said. “But we believe a portion of that sentence has to be prison. Without that, it’s not going to make enough of an impact.”
Mote said these are difficult crimes for prosecutors to deal with, because addicts are no longer just people who live on the fringe of society.
“Our office is acutely aware that these people are in our communities. They’re coaches. They have families. They have lives. They have jobs. They play soccer with our kids,” he said. “But our job is to do everything we can to solve this problem.”
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