INCREASE IN SOME CRIMES BLAMED ON OXYCONTIN, HEROIN

As police predicted, the North Shore saw an upswing in housebreaks,
bank robberies and purse snatchings last year - crimes police blamed
directly on the continued use of OxyContin and heroin.

"We've seen it," said District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett. "That
increase, that rise, was fueled by (opiate) abuse ... from people who
are addicted." Figures provided by Blodgett's office show an increase
in armed robbery, assault and battery, burglary, shoplifting and
unarmed robbery. A dramatic jump was seen in home invasions, which
more than doubled, from 12 prosecuted cases in 2004 to 25 in 2005.

Blodgett said he's also concerned about the number of firearms seized
by the Essex County Drug Task Force last year. The number doubled,
from 14 in 2004 to 25 in 2005.

"When you have drugs, you have guns," he said. "Unequivocally, the
two go together." North Shore police have no doubt opiate addicts are
influencing crime rates. "Heroin is driving most of our crime. It's
driving burglaries and robberies," said Lawrence police Chief John J.
Romero, who attributed a recent string of convenience store heists to
addicts. "If you have a $100-a-day habit and you don't have a job,
where do you get the money for drugs?" Lawrence police make about
5,000 arrests a year, many of them drug-related, Romero said.

"The problem is, drugs are cheaper now than when I started 35 years
ago and they're purer," he said. "That worries me."

Police in Danvers saw a decrease in housebreaks in 2005. But other
robbery reports, including bank holdups, increased 38 percent, from
eight in 2004 to 11 in 2005. Christopher Bruce, the Danvers Police
Department's crime analyst, said the most telling figure is the
number of drug incidents involving heroin. From 1998 to 2003, they
averaged five calls a year. In 2004, police investigated 15 incidents
involving heroin, and last year that number rose to 17. Veteran drug
detectives aren't shocked.

"I'm seeing a lot of heroin," said Salem Detective William Jennings.
"Younger and younger kids that started with OxyContin and are now
hooked on heroin." Early this year, Jennings said he arrested a
27-year-old woman, who once attended an Ivy League college, for
breaking into at least three city homes to feed a heroin habit.