PUTTING THE HEAT ON HEROIN

Area Law Agencies Work Together To Fight The Problem

MENOMINEE - The border between Marinette and Menominee exists on maps
but has virtually no impact on the cooperation between law
enforcement agencies, especially when it comes to drug enforcement.

Police and sheriff's departments in both counties constantly work
together along with the Michigan State Police, the Upper Peninsula
Substance Enforcement Team (UPSET) and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

"If we weren't able to make agreements like that, we'd have drug
dealers working state boundaries all the time," said Menominee County
Sheriff Kenny Marks. "They'd be running us in circles. We have to
work together."

One of the key drugs of concern right now is heroin. The amount of
the highly addictive opiate coming into the area has even been
noticed at the federal level.

"I've talked with a number of people I've worked with up in
Marinette, both the county and the city, and it is really becoming a
major problem in that area," said Christopher Hackbarth, resident
agent with the DEA's Green Bay office. "What we traditionally see are
the second- and third-level dealers up in the Marinette area. They
pool their money together and go down to Green Bay, but more
traditionally to Milwaukee or sometimes Chicago."

The cost

A bindle of heroin, about 1/10 of an ounce, sells for $10 on the
streets of Chicago. It can fetch $40 in Marinette and Menominee. The
trip makes financial sense for dealers.

Money is only part of the equation.

But the real cost comes later, once someone becomes hooked. "I think
it's very disturbing that heroin has come to the surface here," said
Marinette Police Chief Jeff Skorik. "It's even more disturbing that
occurrences seem to be increasing. We're continuing to make arrests
for heroin possession and distribution. I think that it's a mess in
our community right now and it's ruining people's lives and
destroying families."

Skorik's sentiments are shared by Marinette County's Chief Deputy
Jerry Sauve. "If I had to put it into one word, it's alarming because
of how quickly this is addicting people. It's inexpensive and for
some reason it's getting to be the drug of choice and that's getting
to be a concern for us."

Of equal concern to police officials are the other crimes being
committed by people to help support their drug habit. Unemployment is
up, people's working hours have been cut back and raises aren't like
they used to be. When a person has a drug habit that can run $100 a
day, the money has to come from somewhere.

Related crimes

The daily police blotter is filled with reports of theft, burglary,
armed robbery, home invasion and more. According to 1st Lt. Karen
McCormack, post commander for the Michigan State Police in
Stephenson, 60 to 70 percent of those types of crimes are on the
increase, including assault and domestic assault, and it all stems
from the use of alcohol, narcotics or prescription drugs.

"In addition to the drug-related crimes that have been on the
increase, the amount of weapon offenses are also increasing," she
said. "We also work closely with the ATF." McCormack said the number
of guns stolen and being possessed illegally is on the rise.

McCormack said her officers investigate a lot of drug cases. "We've
seen an increase in heroin use, and investigations are tri-fold in
the last couple years." The increase in narcotics investigations also
include prescription drugs, marijuana and crack cocaine.

In 2009, police officers in the city of Menominee worked 28 narcotics
investigations which led to 33 arrests. So far this year there have
been 19 arrests with seven on-going cases.

Manpower

With all the drugs and all the arrests, one might think there are
undercover detectives, investigators and drug agents swarming the
area. Not so. Every department in the area has experienced cutbacks
in personnel and funding.

Between the police and sheriff's departments, the Marinette side of
the river has nearly twice as many officers on the street. In order
to help get a handle on the drug problem, area law enforcement
agencies have pooled their resources.

The city of Menominee has a staff of 14 from the chief on down. The
department is down five-and-half positions from its strongest point.
Meanwhile, the Menominee County Sheriff's Department has 11 officers
including a detective and school resource officer plus the sheriff
and under-sheriff.

"My opinion is we don't have enough," said Marks. Right now staff has
to be freed up to work on drug cases and being short-staffed and
flexible doesn't always go together.

"I don't have the luxury right now of saying, 'OK, I'm going to
assign this deputy to just doing drug cases.'"

Detective Greg Nast with the Menominee Sheriff's Department works on
most of the larger felony and adult drug cases for the county and is
also in regular contact with his counterparts on the other side of
the river. Marks said he's fortunate to be able to work closely with
the other agencies.

Even though the State Police post in Stephenson is down two troopers,
personnel there are also doing more with less. "We assist other
departments and because we're a state agency our investigations often
lead us to other counties if not other states," said McCormack.

On the Wisconsin side, the Marinette Police Department has a staff of
23 from the chief on down while the Marinette County Sheriff's
Department has a sheriff, chief deputy, two patrol lieutenants, four
patrol sergeants, 16 deputies, an investigative lieutenant, three
detectives and a drug officer.

Sauve stressed it takes a lot of man hours and personnel to make
solid drug cases. "It's very labor intensive and sometimes you wonder
if you're just scratching the surface of it."

He said the public can do its part by calling Crime Stoppers with
tips about suspected drug use. Callers can remain anonymous and even
receive a cash reward in certain cases.

Marinette County Crime Stoppers

Tip Line: 1-800-427-5857

Information can be a two edge sword. While area departments need
intelligence information, the question remains about how they can
best use it to build cases that will stick in court. It's not a
question of good police work; it's simply a matter of how many people
are available.

"The fact we have a heroin problem does not mean that all the other
calls for services end either," said Skorik. "There are some things
that have to be handled right now, immediately, every day, day after day."