Berlin Noticing Uptick In Heroin

BERLIN — Berlin is not “immune” to a statewide uptick in heroin with the town seeing more of the drug so far this year than in the last several years combined.

However, it’s still far from out of control, according to Berlin Police Chief Arnold Downing, especially with law enforcement working together.

Heroin has seen a steady rise in availability for the last several years, a trend which has been seen in Maryland and the Eastern Shore.

“One thing that we definitely know is that the whole region has seen an influx of heroin,” said Downing. “We’re not immune to that. We’ve actually, again as stated, seen more heroin in the first 28 days of this year than we’ve probably seen in the last three years total.”

As alarming as that sounds, Downing explained that the volume of the drug seen in Berlin is still relatively small. The main difference is that his officers are used to finding only trace amounts or just drug paraphernalia.

“That’s what it has been in the past and now we’re actually seeing people with volumes of it because,” the chief said, “number one, how cheap it is and, number two, because of their dependency on it.”

The silver lining to the situation is that because heroin is a problem across the board Berlin has been able to form solid partnerships with other agencies on local, regional and state fronts.

“What we’re seeing is us, as a group, we’re seeing heroin spike and everybody speaking that same thing,” said Downing. “From the medical professionals, the counselors, from the doctors and again law enforcement all of the way around.”

Downing updated the Mayor and Council Monday on his department’s cooperation with the Pocomoke Police Department in a recent operation, a meeting with the State Police Superintendent to discuss task forces as well as the Berlin Police Department’s ongoing relationship with the local State’s Attorney’s Office to better establish the chain of evidence with drug related offenses.

“We’ve been called to the hospital several times to take the actual paraphernalia found on people who have overdosed,” Downing said. “What we’re doing is working with the State’s Attorney and we’re going to find a direct way to go ahead and work with that.”

The number of people coming into local hospitals with heroin overdoses has been a “trend that is unsettling for us,” added the chief.

Downing noted that none of these relationships are new but that it is important to keep cross-department efforts constantly evolving. Mayor Gee Williams agreed, expressing satisfaction with the BPD working hand-in-hand with the State’s Attorney since dealing with the issues alone would seem “overwhelming.”