Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jul 2006
Source: Daily Times, The (MD)
Copyright: 2006 The Daily Times
Contact: http://www.delmarvanow.com/customerservice/contactus.html
Website: http://www.thedailytimesonline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/116
Author: Deborah Gates, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

TASK FORCE LOOKS TO STEM DRUG TIDE

CRISFIELD -- The urn on the TV stand in Heather Britton's living room 
is testament to a community's need for the Somerset County Drug Task Force.

Had Donald Lee "Bunky" Britton lived, the Crisfield waterman, husband 
and father would have turned 26 in June. In August, he would have 
seen his daughter turn four. And next week, they would have 
celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary.

Instead, Britton was lifted from a bathroom floor at a Somers Cove 
Apartments unit and placed in an ambulance, where he died en route to 
Crisfield's McCready Memorial Hospital.

Cause of the May 12 death: "Narcotics," his wife, Heather Britton, 
said Friday. "Heroin and fentanyl intoxication; that's what the death 
certificate says."

Eliminating the trafficking of the drug that killed Britton is a 
primary focus of Crisfield Police Chief Clarence Bell, who is 
confident that a $39,000 state grant to his department to aid county 
task force investigations will slow the flow of controlled and 
dangerous substances before another life is lost.

"Before in Crisfield, it was marijuana and crack cocaine," Bell said 
Friday. "Since last year, we're seeing more heroin. I'm not saying 
there's a lot, but we're seeing it where it was none before."

The grant will pay the salary and other expenses of a Crisfield 
police officer named to the task force, whose members focus on cases 
exclusively related to drug trafficking or distribution.

The one-year grant was awarded this month by the Governor's Office of 
Crime Control and Prevention to help fight drug crimes in Somerset 
County communities. The Princess Anne Police Department also intends 
to add a municipal officer to the force that also includes members of 
the Maryland State Police and Somerset County Sheriff's Office, said 
Town Manager Jay Parker.

The Crisfield grant comes as county law enforcement officials tackle 
the recent presence of fentanyl-laced heroin in the region, and the 
recent death of a Princess Anne resident whose death was attributed 
to the lethal substance.

Bell's appointment of an officer within 30 days will create 
Crisfield's first representation in years on the five-member special 
investigative team, he said.

"We deal with the task force now, but adding an officer helps the 
task force do the job in Somerset better," said Bell, who added that 
in 2004, the special unit served 20 warrants in the city of about 
3,000 residents.

More important is muscling the task force with additional manpower 
needed to eliminate the region's drug trade, said Kristy Hickman, 
Somerset County state's attorney who pushed for the appointments. The 
increase would bring the number of task force members to seven, she said.

"We do large investigations and they must be undercover," she said 
Friday. "That is hard to do; it consumes a lot of time and we found 
out with additional members, we can focus on all areas of the county 
rather than one area at a time."

Heather Britton, 22, said hopefully, the additional manpower will 
find the dealer who sold her husband the tainted drug.

"It destroys lives," she said. "I have no husband, my daughter has no 
father. He was clean for more than a year, until somebody sold him some."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman