MORE COPS NEEDED TO WIN DRUG WAR

For people like Paul McNamara, a Fitchburg police officer, the war on drugs
in North Central Massachusetts is not an academic exercise. McNamara found
himself fighting for his life one day while working on Fitchburg's STRAIT
(Strategic Tactical Response and Intervention team) unit. A man attacked
McNamara and Sgt. Joaquin Kilson on Crestview Lane after they stopped him
for having an open container of beer.

"It was a fight for our lives," McNamara told the Sentinel & Enterprise.
"It went from an encounter of, 'What's your name,' and 'You know you can't
be drinking here,' into hand-to-hand combat very quickly." McNamara said
the man came to Fitchburg to buy drugs, but he must have already been high
when he arrived.

"We were on the ground fighting, the three of us, and we didn't know where
our weapons or radios went. A woman nearby handed Sgt. Kilson his radio,"
McNamara said. "It took four or five of us to arrest him." McNamara and
numerous other officers and law enforcement officials literally put their
lives on the line every day to fight illegal drug trafficking and use.
Today's installment of our special 10-part report, "Decades of
Addiction-Drugs in North Central Mass," focuses on the people who fight the
war on drugs. All of them, including McNamara's partners on the city of
Fitchburg's new STRAIT initiative, Sgt. Joaquin Kilson and Joanne Bairos,
deserve our recognition and support.

We believe they also deserve more help in fighting the war on drugs,
particularly in a region that was initially slow to respond to the growing
threat of drug trafficking.

Ask any of them, or any area police chief, and they will tell you they're
doing the best they can with the resources they have. But they are chasing
drug dealers who are increasingly well-financed, loaded with high-tech
equipment, and more mobile than ever. Through no fault of their own, they
are outgunned, outmanned and being outspent. If we truly want to win the
war on drugs, the region needs to win it on Main Street, in the
neighborhoods and on every street corner where drug dealers ply their
illicit trade.

This, of course, will cost money. But nothing will help the region grow
more economically than eliminating, or at least drastically reducing, the
amount of drug dealing on our streets. It's time to send a message that
drug users and dealers aren't welcome here anymore.