In the first half of this year, the Butler County Drug Task Force was just two arrests shy of equalling all the arrests it made in 2003, a watershed year in the county's antidrug campaign.
"If it continues at this pace, it'll be a record year," said county Detective Pat Cannon.
From January through June, the task force made 71 arrests compared with 73 arrests in all of 2003 and 108 last year, he said.
Of the arrests this year, 23 are for felony delivery or possession with the intent to deliver heroin; 14 are felony arrests for delivery or possession with the intent to deliver crack cocaine; 11 people have been arrested for possession of heroin and two for possession of crack.
The other arrests are for possession of marijuana and other lesser drugs.
The number of arrests this year show two important things, said Cannon, a 32-year police veteran who has led the county's drug task force for the last nine years.
One, the heroin problem that resulted in 12 overdose deaths in 2003 and spawned aggressive antidrug campaigns throughout the county, is leveling off. There are fewer overdoses, and fewer new names cropping up in drug investigations.
Two, law enforcement officers are getting to know the users and dealers and they're putting them in jail.
"We know who the players are now. We're aware of them and we know who we're looking for," Cannon said. "In 2004 we started seeing the same names over and over. I rarely see a name I'm not familiar with anymore."
The task force started focusing its attention on the mounting heroin problem in 2001. By 2003, heroin use dominated headlines and worried everyone from parents to community leaders.
That same year, members of Butler County Against Heroin were copying tactics from a successful anti-heroin campaign in Carroll County, Md.
The award-winning Butler County Reality Tour was in its infancy, walking people through a user's descent into addiction, overdose and death, and visiting such places as the Butler County Prison to reinforce the consequences of drug use. Schools instituted drug testing programs. Collaborative efforts between school districts were born.
Local police officers, and not just task force members, became more savvy at recognizing signs of drug dealing and drug use, Cannon said.
"There are just certain tendencies people have that identify them as drug dealers," he said. "The local officers are being more observant. They know what to look for now."
Even though it took four years, the entire community's anti-heroin efforts have paid off, Cannon said.
"It took awhile because heroin was such a new phenomenon for this county," Cannon said. "It's still here and it will always be here. It'll be here long after I'm gone," he said. "But it's under control."
First Published: July 24, 2005, 4:00 a.m.