Tips help Saugus Police in effort to combat drug crimes

SAUGUS – Saugus Police have increased the number of drug arrests made this year by more than double compared to this time last year, the result of more diligent investigating of leads sent in by anonymous tipsters, Lt. Ronald Giorgetti said Thursday.?In the same time period last year at this time we had seven drug arrests, and this year we have 18,” said Sgt. David Gecoya, who is involved with most of the department?s drug investigations.Giorgetti said the number of arrests could be higher if there was more manpower available to combat the town?s drug crime.?The number 18 may not be an accurate representation of the overall problem because there is no full-time drug unit whereas if there was, numbers could be significant,” he said.But having heard pleas from residents asking police to handle drug issues in their neighborhoods, the department has in recent months been assigning detectives to do more investigative work on narcotics-dealing and other drug-related crime in Saugus, with the help of other local, state and federal departments, Giorgetti said. The result has been an increase in arrests over the last several months relating to drug crime in the town.Saugus Town Meeting Member Peter Manoogian encouraged the use of outside departments to combat drug use, a problem he said “all communities are facing during tough economic times.”?I think the department has done a very good job in dealing with this in a regional aspect,” said Manoogian. “Maybe the message to anyone watching is Saugus is gonna find out about the little fish by going after the big fish, and utilizing resources beyond our department is an effective approach.”A major crime problem Saugus faces, Manoogian said, is property crime, and Giorgetti acknowledged that property crimes are often a by-product of drug use.?We want to help reduce the level of crime, and the availability of drugs and drug addiction leads to an increase in property crimes that affect everybody,” Giorgetti said.From Jan. 1 to March 1, 2011, the department had made one cocaine-related arrest and two arrests each for heroin, prescription pills and marijuana. Since Jan. 1 of this year, there have been seven heroin arrests, six prescription drug arrests, four marijuana arrests and one cocaine arrest, Gecoya said.?We?ve basically been averaging almost two [drug] arrests a week,” he said.Both men said the number of calls made to the department?s anonymous tip line devoted to drug crime showed a need for more personal attention made to the town?s population of drug users.?It?s not a change in the amount of drugs, no change in the amount of time we have, but there has been an uprising in the amount of calls that get to the chief,” Gecoya said.As a result, Chief Domenic J. DiMella recognized the need for more focus to be put on area drug crime, Giorgetti said.The people arrested so far this year have not all been Saugus residents, Giorgetti said, nor have they been of a particular ethnicity, race or sex. He admitted that Route 1, which runs through Saugus is a “major thoroughfare,” for drug users, and that it “lends itself to drug activity,” but stressed that many recent arrests are the result of tips from town residents.Saugus used to have a three-man unit devoted to narcotics and drug crime, but a shortage of manpower and money caused the unit to be phased out in 2006, Giorgetti said.That unit made more than 100 arrests a year related to drug crime alone, and having three men assigned to cover drug crime now could result in the same number, he said.?If we could have three officers assigned right now, we would do it,” Giorgetti said. “We should have 12 if not 16 more [officers] on the force, but we just don?t have the funding and had to make cuts.”Gecoya said he has spent about the last six months building relationships with drug units in neighboring towns like Lynn and the State Police detectives they work with, as well as with the Drug Enforcement Agency at the federal level.?The key to addressing