Pubdate: Sun, 24 Aug 2014
Source: Portsmouth Herald (NH)
Copyright: 2014 Seacoast Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1157
Author: Elizabeth Dinan

A 20/20 VIEW OF CITY'S WAR ON OPIATE ABUSE

ABC News Show Filmed Portsmouth Police Officers' Battle Against
Illicit Drugs

The Portsmouth Police Department's war on drugs will be
televised.

As part of a program about opiate abuse across the country, the ABC
News show "20/20" filmed Portsmouth police officers while they went
undercover to buy drugs, watched drug deals from afar and made drug
busts.

Producer Glenn Ruppell said Portsmouth was selected as one of the
featured communities for the "20/20" show "because it's exactly the
kind of place - a beautiful, safe and prosperous town and popular
vacation destination - that too many people think is unlikely to have
a drug problem."

"Yet after several days riding along with the Portsmouth police," he
said, "we were able to see that this is an issue to be very concerned
about just about anywhere."

Deputy Police Chief Corey MacDonald said the 20/20 crew was in
Portsmouth for two weeks at the end of July. He said Portsmouth will
be one of a group of communities featured during the show "about the
surge of opiate abuse across the country."

Each geographical location will tell a different part of the overall
story, with the Portsmouth segment showing law enforcement efforts, he
said.

"We don't have open-air drug markets like some big cities," MacDonald
said. "You have to know who to talk to and what you're looking for.
We're extremely safe, but there's a strong opiate trade
underneath."

The film crew followed members of a new nine-person plain-clothes drug
team that was announced last month when MacDonald said a lot of
Portsmouth crime is linked to drug abuse and that many heroin users
first abused prescription pain pills.

The deputy chief said the television crew filmed "drug pickups and
transfers" and had cameras rolling while a local man was "making a
sale in Market Square in broad daylight."

"Then we moved in and made arrests," he said.

Some of the undercover officers' faces will be blurred to protect
their undercover status, as will the faces of civilians who did not
give consent to be filmed.

People who watch the show will recognize local landmarks as the
program follows local officers, MacDonald said. That includes the
Wamesit Place public housing neighborhood, where two residents were
filmed while they were arrested on July 19 for heroin charges,
MacDonald said.

Unannounced and at night, police knocked on a door before finding
Kassandra Young, 28, of 179B Greenleaf Ave., and Tyler Lunday, 28,
address unknown, with heroin and needles, MacDonald said. Young agreed
to let the 20/20 camera crew inside, where police found evidence that
heroin use had been "going on all day" and a "spoon loaded up and
ready to go," MacDonald said.

Their arrests are expected to make the final cut for the
nationally-broadcast, prime-time television show, said the deputy chief.

MacDonald said the television news team "shot a ton of video," but
he's been told the Portsmouth segment will likely be about 15 minutes
long.

"We have no access to their footage, no editorial rights," he said.
"They recently did work with the New York Police Department, so we
rely on their stellar reputation."

He said he was filmed giving briefings, before going out and doing
drug investigations and busts with his officers. Other officers filmed
included Steve Blanding, Bill Dobois, Mark Newport and Duane Jaques,
he said.

"People will be kind of surprised," said the deputy police chief.
"They'll wonder why '20/20' is in Portsmouth, where there's a low
crime rate? The answer is that this isn't a Lawrence, or a Detroit,
where if you told people there was an opiate problem, they'd say, 'No
kidding.'"

What television viewers won't see, he said, is the Portsmouth Police
Department's new "multi-pronged approach" to drug abuse because the
producers were in Portsmouth just to capture enforcement efforts.

"My frustration is you won't see the creative push we're doing,"
MacDonald said. "Here, they wanted enforcement. You'll just see the
traditional piece. Only one slice of the pie."

Not filmed was the police department's first "Community Access to
Recovery Day" last month that paired addicts and people who care about
them with service providers at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. MacDonald
said the program will be repeated in September.

"It was an interesting experience," MacDonald said of the "20/20"
filming.

He said he hopes the show serves as a deterrent and to "expose the
problem of drug abuse" in Portsmouth.

"Residents will hopefully be happy to see our level of enforcement,"
he said.

The show is not yet scheduled, but Ruppell said it will air sometime
this fall.  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D