TASK FORCE LOOKS TO STEM DRUG TIDE

CRISFIELD -- The urn on the TV stand in Heather Britton's living room
is testament to a community's need for the Somerset County Drug Task Force.

Had Donald Lee "Bunky" Britton lived, the Crisfield waterman, husband
and father would have turned 26 in June. In August, he would have
seen his daughter turn four. And next week, they would have
celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary.

Instead, Britton was lifted from a bathroom floor at a Somers Cove
Apartments unit and placed in an ambulance, where he died en route to
Crisfield's McCready Memorial Hospital.

Cause of the May 12 death: "Narcotics," his wife, Heather Britton,
said Friday. "Heroin and fentanyl intoxication; that's what the death
certificate says."

Eliminating the trafficking of the drug that killed Britton is a
primary focus of Crisfield Police Chief Clarence Bell, who is
confident that a $39,000 state grant to his department to aid county
task force investigations will slow the flow of controlled and
dangerous substances before another life is lost.

"Before in Crisfield, it was marijuana and crack cocaine," Bell said
Friday. "Since last year, we're seeing more heroin. I'm not saying
there's a lot, but we're seeing it where it was none before."

The grant will pay the salary and other expenses of a Crisfield
police officer named to the task force, whose members focus on cases
exclusively related to drug trafficking or distribution.

The one-year grant was awarded this month by the Governor's Office of
Crime Control and Prevention to help fight drug crimes in Somerset
County communities. The Princess Anne Police Department also intends
to add a municipal officer to the force that also includes members of
the Maryland State Police and Somerset County Sheriff's Office, said
Town Manager Jay Parker.

The Crisfield grant comes as county law enforcement officials tackle
the recent presence of fentanyl-laced heroin in the region, and the
recent death of a Princess Anne resident whose death was attributed
to the lethal substance.

Bell's appointment of an officer within 30 days will create
Crisfield's first representation in years on the five-member special
investigative team, he said.

"We deal with the task force now, but adding an officer helps the
task force do the job in Somerset better," said Bell, who added that
in 2004, the special unit served 20 warrants in the city of about
3,000 residents.

More important is muscling the task force with additional manpower
needed to eliminate the region's drug trade, said Kristy Hickman,
Somerset County state's attorney who pushed for the appointments. The
increase would bring the number of task force members to seven, she said.

"We do large investigations and they must be undercover," she said
Friday. "That is hard to do; it consumes a lot of time and we found
out with additional members, we can focus on all areas of the county
rather than one area at a time."

Heather Britton, 22, said hopefully, the additional manpower will
find the dealer who sold her husband the tainted drug.

"It destroys lives," she said. "I have no husband, my daughter has no
father. He was clean for more than a year, until somebody sold him some."