SPOTTING DRUG USE; Police Trained to Test Drivers

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, May 6, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | B01

In a program hailed as a new weapon against drugged drivers, state and local law enforcement officials Tuesday dedicated a center where suspected impaired drivers will be tested. They also recognized 40 police officers who have completed training as the state’s first drug recognition experts.

The Drug Recognition Enforcement program takes the guesswork out of prosecuting motorists suspected of using drugs, said Paul Brickfield, first assistant Bergen County prosecutor.

Instead of relying mainly on a police officer’s description of a motorist’s conduct, prosecutors will be able to use the results of a set of tests administered soon after a driver is stopped.

The officers 20 from the state police, 10 from the Bergen County Police Department, and 10 from municipal police departments have been trained to recognize and measure symptoms induced by various types of drugs, Brickfield said at the dedication.

The testing center is located in a wing donated by Bergen Pines County Hospital in Paramus.
John Pescatore, director of the Bergen County Office of Highway Safety, said the program plugs a gap that exists in the prosecution of drunken and drug-impaired drivers.

“Take the Bergen County Police Department,” Pescatore said. “They make over 200 drunk-driving arrests each year, well over 300 arrests of people driving with narcotics in their car, but fewer than 10 arrests of those under the influence of drugs.

The Drug Recognition Enforcement Program was developed in Los Angeles and is now used in 20 states, including New York, Brickfield said.

The state Highway Traffic Safety Division, working with a $14,000 seed grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, chose Bergen County as the place to test the program because of its almost 3,000 miles of interstate, state, county, and municipal roadways.

The training included classroom examinations and practical experience working with drug suspects and identifying what types of drugs they were using, Brickfield said. The officers worked with suspects arrested on sweeps by narcotics bureaus in Jersey City and Paterson.

An examination of a suspect should take about 45 minutes, said state police Sgt. Frank R. Emig, who, along with Bergen County Police Sgt. Robert Brenzel, is a coordinator of the program. Some tests, such as the balance, walk and turn, one-leg stand, and finger-to-nose, are similar to the roadside tests administered to suspected drunken drivers.

Others, such as examinations of pupils, measurement of pulse rate, blood pressure, and body temperature, and toxicological tests, are scientific tests designed to determine which category of drugs a person may be using, Emig said. By the time a test is concluded, the officer would be able to testify as an expert in court on the category of drugs the suspect was using at the time of the arrest, he said.

About 18 people have been charged since DRE officers began issuing summonses to people for driving under the influence of drugs in January, Brickfield said. A few suspects pleaded guilty while several cases are pending, he said.

No one has been convicted in a contested case, however. Brickfield said the first case was lost last week when a Bergen County Superior Court judge questioned not the credibility of the drug recognition expert, but the initial stop that led to the suspect’s being charged.

He added that the program also would have to survive a judicial challenge of a conviction in New Jersey, as it has in other states, before it is accepted as an established enforcement mechanism.

James A. Arena, director of the state Highway Traffic Safety Division, said it was a natural evolution from drunken driving enforcement to trying to get drugged drivers off the road. In 1981, he said, 33 percent of fatal accidents in the state involved a drunken driver or victim, compared with 18.7 percent in 1991. The national average for 1991, the latest figure available, was 39 percent, he said.

“Consistent with the scourge of drugs in our schools, workplace, the whole society, really,” he said, the percentage of drug-related fatal accidents and injuries has increased alarmingly, to as high as 30 percent in 1991.

Caption: 2 COLOR PHOTOS – The testing center includes a holding cell, top. 2 – Above, Sgt. Frank Emig watching Jennifer Dalton, a public information assistant, in a simulated driver test. – PETER MONSEES / THE RECORD 1

GLEN ROCK GOLF PRO ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, March 15, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | A04

A Glen Rock golf instructor was arrested Friday on charges of selling cocaine, Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said Saturday.

Rodney R. Frith, 31, of 36 Grover Terrace was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and was being held Saturday in the Bergen County Jail on $100,000 bail, Fahy said. Fahy said Frith works as a golf pro at Hillman’s Golfland in Elmwood Park.

A friend of Frith’s, Ceser Brienza, a Chestnut, N.Y., rubbish removal company owner, also was being held on the same amount of bail on the same charge, Fahy said.

Fahy said that Brienza, who had sold cocaine to Bergen County narcotics agents on two previous occasions, brought Frith with him to a Friday night rendezvous in Hackensack with people who, unknown to the suspects, were county narcotics agents. The meeting occurred behind Channel Home Center in Hackensack. They were taken into custody about 6:05 p.m.

Agents seized 1 kilogram of cocaine, with an approximate value of $25,000.
GLEN ROCK; GOLF; PROFESSIONAL; DRUG; ABUSE; SALE; HACKENSACK; ELMWOOD PARK; NEW YORK STATE; RODNEY R. FRITH

250 ATTEND DRUG ABUSE SEMINAR

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, December 12, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 5 Star | NEWS | Page B02

In June, the state reclassified anabolic steroids as a Class 3 Controlled Dangerous Substance. The change placed anabolic steroids, a muscle-enhancer said to be making inroads among youths, under the umbrella of the state’s drug-free school zone law. Anyone caught distributing drugs near a school is subject to a mandatory prison sentence.

Educators and law enforcement officials in Bergen County gathered Wednesday to hear state and local representatives outline recent changes in drug laws and urge greater vigilance in identifying drug abuse.

Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy, who sponsored the conference with the Bergen County superintendent of schools, emphasized cooperation between educators and law enforcement agencies.

The conference, which drew 250 to the Sheraton Heights hotel, is the second of its kind in Bergen County, and is an outgrowth of the New Jersey Statewide Narcotics Action Plan, developed in 1987 to enforce state narcotics laws on school properties.

New Jersey Deputy Attorney General Ron Susswein discussed recent changes in drug laws. In June 1991, for instance, the state reclassified anabolic steroids as a Class 3 Controlled Dangerous Substance. The change placed anabolic steroids under the umbrella of the state’s drug-free school zone law, Susswein said. Anyone caught distributing drugs within 1,000 feet of a school is subject to a mandatory prison sentence.

Thomas Bellavia, a Hasbrouck Heights doctor, said in an interview that anabolic steroids appear to have made inroads among students, including some as young as 15 years old.

Anabolic steroids are often used to increase muscle and body mass for improved athletic performance, he said.

Although steroids have medical applications, the use by teenagers is usually 10 to 40 times the usual medicinal dose, he said. The drug could cause adverse effects on the heart, liver, bones, reproductive organs, and skin, as well as on behavior, including causing severe aggressiveness. Bellavia said parents and educators should look for any sudden increase in body and muscle mass, severe acne, development of breasts, and loss of hair in both males and females.

Fahy said he hoped the conference would become an annual event.

GRIM TALES, HARD DRUGS, TOUGH LESSONS; THESE DEGREES HAVE NO VALUE

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, October 23, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 6 Star | NEWS | Page B01

They met informally after a talk on drug addiction given by two Bergen County Jail inmates. A handful of Fair Lawn High School students walked onto the stage to meet the prisoners, to ask a question, or make a statement.

One of the students, a 17-year-old senior, felt a special kinship with the pair: He is a recovering cocaine addict.

“It’s true everything they said,” the student said. “You can go to alcohol, and it will bring you right back to drugs.”

The cycle had just been vividly recounted for him and about 270 other Fair Lawn seniors at a forum Tuesday morning in the school auditorium. The program is being offered this month in county schools by the Sheriff’s Department’s “Hit Team.”

The two inmates Michael, 48, and Greg, 28 told of lives disrupted because of addictions, beginning with alcohol and escalating to illegal drugs.
“If you play the game of drugs, you are going to end up one of three ways: addicted, in jail, or dead,” said Michael, who is serving a five-year sentence for possession of cocaine.

Greg said his descent began in the eighth grade, when he tried to use alcohol to mask the pain of mental, physical, and sexual abuse by his father. It soon escalated to nocturnal walks in New York City, looking for crack.

“You have to understand that these little six-packs and cases of beer you drink at victory parties . . . I don’t know, does it really make the music sound all that better? I don’t think so,” Greg said.

“It just doesn’t happen overnight. It started at a young age. It started with drinking. It started as fun. All my friends did it. So I did it, too.”

Michael said he was from Washington and once had a well-paying job and a family. But his addiction put him in the wrong place at the wrong time in a car when police busted the driver with a kilo of cocaine.

Joelynn Lisa, 17, said the two men’s stories were powerful. “It makes you think twice about doing drugs,” she said.

The Hit Team is two inmates, a corrections officer, a deputy sheriff, and an undersheriff or Sheriff Jack Terhune.

Student at Fair Lawn High School fires a pistol in class.

Keywords: FAIR LAWN; SCHOOL; STUDENT; MEETING; BERGEN COUNTY; PRISON; DRUG; ABUSE

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – BOB BRUSH / THE RECORD – Fair Lawn High School seniors listening to Bergen County Jail inmates Greg and Michael tell the stories of their addictions.

KIDS EXCITED BY DRUG LESSONS PARAMUS PROGRAM DRAWS ENTHUSIASM

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 13, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NORTH CENTRAL BERGEN/YOUR TOWN RECORD | Page 1

To fifth-graders at the Paramus public schools, the Police Department’s DARE program urging children to stay away from drugs is a hit.
And to Paramus Police Detective Kevin Smith and Patrolman Bill Nutland, who are coordinating the 18-week pilot Drug Abuse Resistance Education program at Eastbrook and Westbrook middle schools, the students enthusiasm has been infectious.
The excitement was evident at DARE flag-raising ceremonies at the two schools. A rousing ovation, punctuated with “woof, woof, woof,” a la Arsenio Hall’s “dog pound,” greeted Nutland and Smith when they spoke before 115 10- and 11-year-olds and their teachers gathered at the gymnasium of the Westbrook School last week.
The officers were treated to a similar reception several weeks earlier at the Eastbrook School.
Both times the children had gathered to hoist the DARE flag and recite the pledge to say no to drugs. Rainy weather moved last week’s ceremony indoors. The change did not discourage the children, however. They remained as rambunctious as ever.
“What are you going to say when someone comes to you on the street and says, `Hey kid, you want to try some drugs? ” Nutland asked.
“No!” came the deafening reply, their voices bouncing off the walls of the gymnasium.
“Do you really mean it?” asked Nutland, like a preacher warming to the task.
“Yes!” echoed the chorus.
The DARE flag black with DARE in red letters and the credo, “To Keep Kids off Drugs,” in white is to remind visitors to the school that DARE is there, working everyday of the year, Nutland told the students.
The message seems to be sinking in. The children excitedly talked about what they are learning and how they feel about Nutland, Smith, and the other officers from the Police Department who come and help out.
Westbrook School’s Sumon Nandy, 10, said he learned that drugs are bad for him and could kill him. Jennifer Ward, 10, of the Eastbrook School said all the children were always excited to have “Kevin” Detective Smith around.
The officers go to the schools Nutland at Westbrook and Smith at Eastbrook three times each week. They play softball and football with the children and teach the DARE curriculum, which Eastbrook Principal Barbara Hyde said focuses on self-esteem and drug-related education.
Hyde said the school district and the Police Department chose the fifth grade to start the pilot program because it is a critical age to try to reach the children: They are under less parental supervision; they are sometimes with older students; and they are exposed to bad influences from the television and other media.
“There are more chances for them to make wrong decisions,” Hyde said. “There’s no guarantee that this is going to turn the world around, but a lot of things haven’t worked and this is a really positive program.”

Keywords: PARAMUS; DRUG; ABUSE; STUDENT; CHILD; SCHOOL; POLICE

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – ED HILL / THE RECORD – Fifth-graders standing with policemen who taught them how to avoid drugs. From left, Keith Smollin, Detective Kevin Smith, Laura Hofsommer, Patrolman Bill Nutland, and T.J. Cullen.

DEADLY BRAND OF HEROIN CLAIMS 3 N.J. ADDICTS

By David Gibson and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Sunday, February 3, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A01

Two drug addicts in Paterson and one in Newark died Saturday after using deadly heroin from the Bronx that police say has killed six people in the tri-state area and hospitalized at least 100 others within hours of hitting the streets.
Authorities were unsure late Saturday if the deaths were caused by “hotshots” powerful doses of uncut heroin or if the narcotic was laced with some poisonous material.
New York City police cruised drug-infested areas Saturday announcing the danger over bullhorns and searched abandoned tenements, seeking to spread the warning to homeless addicts. Police in Hartford, Conn., site of one fatal overdose, did the same.
But Paterson and Newark officials said they had no similar plans.
“The word is pretty much out on the street,” said Paterson Police Chief Richard W. Munsey. “Our detectives went out early this morning. “
Paterson police sources said one arrest had been made in an ongoing investigation aimed at tracking down the source of the lethal heroin.
“We’re compiling a lot of information and watching a couple of places. Hopefully we’ll get lucky,” said one detective, who added that New York police were assisting on the case.
Paterson Mayor William J. Pascrell Jr. took a hard line on warning addicts, characterizing the loudspeaker idea as “ludicrous. “
“When you play with poison, you’re going to die with poison, one way or another,” said Pascrell. The mayor acknowledged his attitude may be viewed as harsh, but said it was for the addicts own good: “I hope this puts fear into the drug users. There’s a lesson to be learned from this. “
Lt. Dan Collins of the Newark police said no efforts were being made to notify drug users there of the danger.
“We don’t go around broadcasting,” said one Newark police officer who declined to give his name. “When we go to shooting galleries, we lock them up.”
Six men and a woman were taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson on Saturday suffering from drug overdoses, said spokeswoman Barbara Hopp. Two men were pronounced dead on arrival, three patients were treated and released, and two were reported in stable condition, she said. Officials would not identify the victims.
Pascrell and Munsey said word-of-mouth warnings would likely be sufficient to scare off Paterson’s heroin users because the overdoses, which started occurring about 4 a.m. Saturday, were confined to a small section of the city. They declined to identify the area.
New York officials said the heroin in question was bought after 4 p.m. Friday near 138th Street and Brook Avenue in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. It was distributed quickly, they said, citing as evidence the death in Hartford.
Two fatalities were reported in New York, and at least 100 people have been hospitalized, including 21 overdose cases in Newark and four in Irvington. Hartford hospitals reported 33 overdoses.
New York Health Department officials said preliminary tests indicated the heroin was possibly tainted with methyl fentanyl, which can increase the potency of the drug by “a factor of 27. ” That overwhelms receptors in the brain, they said, with resulting coma or respiratory arrest. The condition can be treated if caught in time, they added.
In Paterson, Munsey said death from an overdose of that magnitude can occur in minutes. “They go into a type of seizure and don’t come out. They go comatose and die very quickly,” he said.
The chief added that the heroin used Saturday must have been extremely potent.
“These [victims] are mainliners,” Munsey said. “If they’re dying from shooting up, it’s got to be a good load. With big-time users, it takes an awful lot. “
The heroin was being sold under the brand name “Tango and Cash,” after the movie in which Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell portray police officers fighting powerful drug lords.
“The brand name is nothing but a stamp that they put on a glassine envelope,” said Victor M. Pedalino, special agent with the Newark office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. “They come up with new ones as soon as the names become familiar. “
Pedalino said that about three years ago, particularly potent brands of heroin called “China White” and “P-Dope,” which stood for pure dope, surfaced in New Jersey, and that there was an increase of overdose death reported during that time. That heroin was 70 percent to 85 percent pure.
Renee Sacerdote, a drug counselor at Eva’s Halfway House in Paterson, said addicts scared by the heroin could rely on alcohol or pills to overcome withdrawal pains.
She said Eva’s beds are full and there is a 150-person waiting list for the shelter’s detoxification services, but she said local hospitals, a Main Street methadone clinic, and the Straight and Narrow rehabilitation program could accommodate addicts seeking treatment.
Authorities said the speed with which the heroin reached outlying cities in Connecticut and New Jersey was grim testimony to the efficiency of the narcotics network, which police constantly attempt to interrupt.
Local authorities have long recognized that the majority of Paterson’s illegal drug supply originates in New York, less than a half-hour away on Route 80, and Pascrell said the latest deaths highlight his city’s role as a casualty rather than a protagonist in the drug war.
“Here, we arrest nickel-and-dime dealers,” Pascrell said. “While they’re certainly dangerous, they never get the big guys who pull the strings out of New York.”
Local and federal drug enforcement experts agreed that the area has seen a recent growth in the use of heroin, most of which comes from Southeast Asia. Pedalino said the New Jersey office “has increased its heroin investigation probably by 30 or 40 percent in the past few years.”
New York police, who are coordinating the investigation, asked those with information about who sold the drug to call a confidential, 24-hour hot line: 1-(212) 583-0144.

Keywords: DRUG; ABUSE; PATERSON; NEWARK; NEW YORK CITY