POLICE, LAWYERS CONTINUE DRUG BATTLE

Local police say their intensified efforts to get heroin and cocaine
dealers off city streets this year are increasingly matched by defense
lawyers fighting to get the drug cases dismissed in district court.
"Defense counsel have become much more aggressive in what they do," said
Fitchburg police Capt. Charles Tasca. "In the end, it causes both sides to
operate at a higher level. I believe it benefits everyone."

Gov. Mitt Romney's recent announcement that the state's heroin epidemic has
"snuck up on us" came with little fanfare to officials in Fitchburg and
Leominster, where the heroin problem has long proved a visible sore spot.

But the ongoing prosecution of the drug trade continues to widen the rift
between law enforcement and area defense lawyers. Inside police stations
and courtrooms, police officials and lawyers often refer to each other's
heightened efforts with the same word: "overzealous." Tasca said the
ongoing courtroom wrestling match over the most technical aspects of a
search and seizure is just part of the job. It may frustrate police
officers, but hasn't derailed area drug detectives from chasing after
dealers, he said.

Fitchburg lawyer Kristen Jay Patria, who frequently represents city clients
charged with drug-related crimes, cited political efforts by Fitchburg
Mayor Dan Mylott and others in his argument that it's not the lawyers, but
law enforcement that is more aggressive.

"I think there's more of these cases right now than there have been in
recent years. I think it's fairly clear that the police have become more
aggressive," Patria said. "They've heightened their efforts, for right or
wrong."

Police officers in Fitchburg and Leominster described examples where drug
arrests they considered successes were dismissed this year for a bevy of
reasons.

Fitchburg Police Chief Edward Cronin said in one recent case, a city police
officer was summoned to be in two courts for two separate drug cases on the
same day. A miscommunication caused the district court case to be dismissed
because the officer never arrived, Cronin said.

Leominster police Lt. Michele "Mike" Pellecchia said other cases have been
dismissed -- and the suspects released -- because the state toxicology labs
are too overburdened to return drug test results in a timely enough manner
for a fair court process.

Tasca said when he headed the Fitchburg drug unit in the 1980s, he drove
seized drugs to an Amherst toxicology lab every week and had results in
about a month. Pellecchia last week said he was still waiting on a result
requested in March, something he said a lawyer could use to get a defendant
released.

"There's a shortage of labs," said Pellecchia. "There's a shortage of
people working in labs. There's an increase in the amount of drugs being
sent out. That's the reality of it."

Less than a year after a major Highland Avenue drugs and firearms raid in
February attracted Mylott and local police chiefs to a press conference
marking the success of the newly mobilized North Worcester County Drug Task
Force, a suspect in the highly-publicized raid was arrested again months
later for allegedly distributing heroin from her car.

Fitchburg attorney John Bosk, who represented a suspected dealer in that
case and harshly criticized police at the time for taking too long to bring
his client from the police station to court, refused repeated requests for
interview this week and last week.

"I'm not sure that the court system, for whatever reason, allows us to
succeed in the long run," Cronin said. "I think the court is doing, for the
most part, the best they can. ... There's a limit on how many jails we can
build, how many people we can put in jail."

Cronin said law enforcement is forced to respond to greater social
problems, namely a poor economy and lack of treatment for drug abusers.

"The only way it'll end is if people stop using," Pellecchia said. "Supply
and demand."

Leominster police Det. Joseph Siciliano, who has worked on his city's drug
unit for 15 years, said law enforcement is facing a heroin purity level in
this region that is more deadly than ever.

"Up in Lowell and Lawrence you can buy heroin for four or five dollars a
bag, but it's weak," said Siciliano. "It might take four or five bags to
get the high they'd get with one bag (in Fitchburg and Leominster). It's
definitely a lot more potent out in this area."

He said heroin in Fitchburg and Leominster is often "$20 a bag but five to
10 times stronger."

Siciliano said though cocaine may still be the more popular drug in the
area, the heroin epidemic creates a greater danger for the region because
of its connection to theft and other crimes. Cronin said the high purity
level has also caused more overdose deaths.

The heroin usually comes in greater quantities and at cheaper rates from
Colombia through distribution centers in New York City, Rhode Island, or
sometimes even the coast of Maine, the police officials said.

Cronin said the large supply of heroin coming across borders and into local
streets means less middlemen cutting and diluting, resulting in drugs that
are more pure, more dangerous, and cheaper.

"As soon as you get a big guy, there's somebody there to take his place,"
Siciliano said. "Now there's just so many of them, and they come from
everywhere. There's no real monopoly on it."

"When I first came on we were seeing a lot of people dealing out of
houses," Siciliano said. "Now you're seeing a lot of deliveries. We have to
change our style to go after the dealers."

As drug detectives continue to change their style to keep up with savvy
dealers, they must take care in finding probable cause for a drug search
because "anything less than perfect will not survive" in court, Tasca said.

"There's no place for emotion in the courtroom, however it's quite easy to
understand when law enforcement officers invest considerable time in a
particular case that ends with an arrest and seizure of contraband, that to
have that case turned over because of a technicality would be very
disappointing," Tasca said.

He said police officers have to prove to a judge that the confidential
informants they cultivate are reliable and have a basis for knowledge. A
piece of information offered by an informant just a week before an arrest
is already too late and "no good" in court, Tasca said. When informants
fail, Tasca said undercover police can get warrants by buying drugs from
unsuspecting dealers.

"Modern detectives have to be and are more sophisticated than they were two
decades ago," Tasca said. "A search warrant allows for police officers to
legally violate the provisions of the constitution. ... That is why it has
to be done so precisely."

Tasca said city and regional drug unit detectives have become "extremely
competent at what they do."

"There can always be frustrating mistakes that are made, but I don't think
the court is immune to doing that any more than police," Cronin said.
"There are times we're going to do things that are going to tick off
defense attorneys. We're not going to change our way of doing things."

Cronin said police can take a case to Superior Court when they see failure
at the district level. "I have a job to do, and they (police) have a job to
do," Patria said. "I think the ultimate goal is to ensure the system is
fair and that it works properly all the way around."