December 2018 Police Report: Progress Against Opioid Epidemic

Interim Police Chief Jason Harris presented the Calls for Service Report for December 2018 at the January 9, 2019, Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting. In December, the Newtown Police Department responded to 1,285 total calls, 227 (18%) of which were in Wrightstown Township (Newtown Police provides services to both Newtown Township and Wrightstown). See a summary of the report below. Note: Not all calls are listed.

Opioid Crisis Progress

I note that in December there were no calls for drug overdose and no calls involving the use of Narcan by Newtown Police, which is good news. In fact, according to the Chief’s report, for 2018, Police Calls in Newtown and Wrightstown townships for drug overdoses is down by about 40% (13 in 2018 vs. 22 in 2017). Calls involving Narcan use, however, increased by 50% (3 in 2018 vs. 2 in 2017).

Thanks once again to the Newtown Police Department for saving lives with Narcan. In fact, it was recently reported in the Bucks County Courier Times that police in PA saved more than 9,000 people from dying of overdoses and in the last year EMS agencies were responsible for 12,000 rescues in the state (see story embedded at the end of this post).

Preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show an 11 percent decline in Pennsylvania drug deaths between the 12-month period ending in May 2017 and the 12-month period ending in May 2018.

Meanwhile, Newtown Police continue to pursue drug pushers. There were 4 narcotics-related calls in December to bring the total to 32 for the year, a slight increase over the 31 narcotics calls in 2017.

FREE Narcan Available

Recently, I was contacted by Diane Rosati, executive director of the Drug and Alcohol Commission, who asked me to spread the word that Narcan is available FREE to all residents of Bucks County.

Ms. Rosati encourages all residents who know someone who struggles with opiates to stop by one of the Commission’s three designated sites to pick up Narcan nasal spray.

You can visit the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission, 600 Louis Drive, Suite 102A, Warminster, PA, to obtain Narcan Mondays and Tuesdays between 10 AM and 1 PM, while supplies last.

Staff will meet with individuals to:

• Provide information on what N arc an is and how to use it
• Offer handouts about local drug & alcohol resources; e.g. how to access treatment and recovery services
• Make onnline instructional video about using Narcan available to view

Community Event

Traffic Citations

There were 100 total traffic citations in Newtown in December 2018, bringing the total number of citations to 1,367 for the year compared to 898 in 2017 – a 52% increase! 523 citations (38%) involve speeding.

There were 35 speeding citations in December. Only 4 (11%) of those were on Swamp Road. This compares to 38 Swamp Road speeding citations in November (see charts below).

Struck Deer

The number police calls involving struck deer in Newtown and Wrightstown totaled 191 in 2018 vs. 154 in 2017. The December numbers - at least in Newtown - remained high.

 

 

Posted on 11 Jan 2019, 01:13 - Category: Crime