DRUG DEATH FUELS CALL FOR ENFORCEMENT

ELLSWORTH--The drug death of a 20-year-old Bangor man arrested in Ellsworth
Saturday has rekindled the sheriff's campaign for more aggressive enforcement.

Robert C. Dembek, 20, of Bangor died mid-morning Monday at Eastern Maine
Medical Center.

Dembek's story began around 2:30 p.m. Saturday when an off-duty Belfast
police officer notified Ellsworth police of a person driving erratically
into Ellsworth from the Bucksport area, according to Hancock County Sheriff
Bill Clark.

The erratic driver was Dembek and he was stopped by Ellsworth Police
Officer Chad Wilmot.

While writing Dembek a summons for a motor vehicle violation, Wilmot
discovered the young man had three syringes in his pocket, Clark said.

Wilmot continued to search, finding heroin, cocaine, $4,000 in cash and a
loaded nine-millimeter handgun in the vehicle, Clark reported.

Wilmot arrested Dembek on charges of unlawful possession of a WXY drug and
aggravated drug trafficking. The officer transported Dembek to the Hancock
County Jail.

During the booking process, a corrections officer asked Dembek a routine
question: "Have you taken drugs recently?"

Dembek told the woman he had swallowed an "eight ball," 3.25 grams of
cocaine, according to Detective Alan Brown.

"She knew it was a serious amount of drugs," Clark said.

Clark said the booking officers assumed he had swallowed the eight ball
during the traffic stop, "container and all."

Cocaine is usually packaged in small plastic bags, Clark said, or pieces of
slick paper. Sometimes latex balloons are used.

Once the container "broke down" all the cocaine went into Dembek's system
at once, he said.

At about 6:30 p.m., in the jail's booking area, Dembek began convulsing,
Clark said. County Ambulance took Dembek to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital.

Dembek lapsed into a coma. He was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center,
where he was placed on life support, Clark said. By Monday, Dembek's
condition had deteriorated.

He was taken off life support. He died shortly thereafter.

"It's not just a coincidence," Clark said, that a routine traffic stop
would lead to a drug arrest. "It's just a good indication of how prevalent
it is."

"We have reason to believe this kid was running drugs for somebody else,"
Clark said. His payment for the service would have been getting drugs to
support his habit.

Agencies Understaffed

Law enforcement agencies do not have enough resources to combat the drug
problem in Hancock County, Clark said.

"We don't even have enough people," he said.

If Clark could give two of his patrolmen 10 days simply to work on drug
leads, they could make a drug bust that would be "front page news," he said.

"I have one detective who's just buried with property crimes," said Clark.

Drug investigations are different from other criminal investigations,
according to Clark.

They cannot be done from a patrol cruiser in a uniform, he said.
Investigators must "work somewhat undetected."

Yet another issue, Clark said, is the that Hancock County exists in a
"void" between Washington County, which has enough of an oxycontin problem
to get state resources, and a large municipality such as Bangor, which is
able to devote one officer to drug work.

"Our wheel doesn't squeak loud enough so we don't get enough help down
here," Clark said.

The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA), which has three officers to cover
the counties of Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis and Somerset, also is
understaffed, its director, Roy McKinney, has said.

"If we don't help ourselves and step up to the plate, nobody's going to do
it for us," Clark said.

"I think we need to get back our streets," he said. "There is no organized
enforcement and we need to change that.

"These individuals have no fear of being apprehended," he said.

When the product being sold most briskly after 8 p.m. at Maine Coast Mall
is a drug, he added, the county has a problem.

New Unit Suggested

Clark suggests starting a three-person countywide drug investigation unit
under the MDEA's "resident agent program." The three investigators would be
three of "the best" from area police departments.

Under the program, the county would fund the base salary for the
investigators, about $100,000 total for the three. The MDEA would provide
all the equipment, training, "buy money" to make drug deals with and
overtime pay, Clark said.

The program would be funded through the county budget.

"We get professional supervision," Clark said, adding that he does not have
the expertise to supervise a drug unit.

"It's a type of enforcement we're not used to doing," he said. "We need
training. My job would be to manage the finances."

Clark cited a large turnout at a recent public meeting in Southwest Harbor
about drug problems.

"If that interest is countywide," people might be interested in funding the
effort, Clark said.

According to Clark, raising the county tax by $100,000 would cost each
taxpayer less than $7 annually.

Clark, county police chiefs and the District Attorney were meeting
yesterday, June 25, to discuss the plan, its projected costs and possible
investigators.

If the plan came to fruition, another issue for area police would be
replacing the three police officers who would become investigators. "If
somebody gives up a good patrolman, he might not be able to replace him,"
Clark said.

Clark received one application each of the last two times he had openings
for full-time patrolmen.

The next step would be for Clark to meet with the Hancock County
Commissioners and area selectmen to get comments.

"The commissioners need to hear people want to support this," Clark said.
"If we don't get that, it's dead in the water. It will never get past the
budget advisory committee."

Meanwhile, Dembek's body has been taken to the State Medical Examiner's
Office in Augusta for an autopsy.

Dembek is survived by his parents, Camille Morrison of Bangor and Robert
Dembek of Minnesota, his grandparents, two sisters, a brother and a fiancee.