Mon Valley mayors, police chiefs meet for drug summit in Monongahela
Mark Soroka
Monessen Police Chief Jim Smith talks about the opioid problem in the area while attorney Steve Toprani listens.
Mark Soroka
Washington County Coroner Timothy Warco pledged to work with local police departments to help determine if a crime has occurred during a drug overdose.
Mark Soroka
Among those who attended the drug summit were (from left) Donora Mayor James McDonough II, Charleroi Mayor Edward Bryner, Washington County Coroner Timothy Warco, Monongahela Mayor Bob Kepics and Monessen Mayor Matt Shorraw.
For Monessen Mayor Matt Shorraw, the Mon Valley’s rapidly growing drug problem is getting personal.
“In the last year and a half, seven of my friends from high school have died from drug overdoses,” he said. “The drug epidemic is not only a tragedy for many families, but it also affects public safety and our economy. It’s time for all the communities around the Mon Valley to join forces to see what we can do about this problem.”
To find solutions for the opioid epidemic, Shorraw and Monongahela Mayor Bob Kepics co-hosted a summit at the Monongahela Municipal Building on this week. The summit brought together mayors, municipal officials and police chiefs from Carroll Township, Charleroi, Clairton, Donora, Monessen and Monongahela, as well as other individuals, who shared their experiences and offered ideas to address the drug problem.
Washington County Coroner Timothy Warco told the group that opioid addiction is reaching epidemic proportions in southwestern Pennsylvania.
“Since 1992, Washington County has experienced 712 drug overdoses,” he said. “And so far in 2018, we have had 30 overdoses, including one overdose that occurred just 12 hours ago. Behind every one of those numbers is someone who has died — someone’s father, daughter, brother or friend. It’s very sad.”
Monessen Police Chief Jim Smith said problem goes beyond heroin, painkillers and other opioids.
“We’re seeing an influx of cocaine into the valley and crack is making a comeback,” he said. “There is also an increase in the number of fentanyl overdoses. You can go on the dark web and actually buy the materials to make this potent opioid.”
Tracking down the dealers who are peddling these drugs can be difficult, said Monongahela Police Chief Brian Tempest.
“It used to be that you could spot the drug dealers on the corner,” said Tempest. “We cleaned that up but now the dealers are going underground. And once they are chased out of one town, they often head over to another town.”
Not only are the dealers becoming craftier, they are also becoming increasingly violent, said Warco.
“Some of the people the police are dealing with are pure evil,” he said. “These are bad actors out there who won’t hesitate to commit a homicide. This is the first year that I started carrying a weapon with me. These are very dangerous times because of the value of drugs.”
Smith, who assumed leadership of the Monessen Police Department early in 2018, pointed out that the drug business is very lucrative for dealers.
“A dealer can spend $85 for a brick of heroin and by the time it hits the streets, the dealer is making over $300 in profit,” he said. “The drug dealers are making so much money they don’t want to bother with regular jobs.”
Warco urged police departments to work together to track down drug dealers.
“It all starts here at the local level,” he said. “You are the people on the front lines. You start the investigation and I try to find the cause and manner of death. Then we work as a team. When you’re called to respond to an overdose, I want you to treat it like a crime scene. We need to substantiate the evidence, so we can take the case to court.”
Added Warco, “While you are handling an investigation, be especially careful not to touch or inhale these drugs. Opioids such as fentanyl are extremely lethal. We don’t want an officer to go down.”
Steve Toprani, a former Washington County district attorney and solicitor for the Borough of Charleroi, strongly favors more treatment and prevention program for drug addicts.
“A lot of these people are addicts, not criminals,” he said. “And when many of them commit a crime, they turn to crime to support their habit. If we can reach out to these people at an early stage, we can get them into recovery sooner. It makes fiscal sense and it’s the humane thing to do.”
Toprani also urged local municipalities to be more proactive in driving drug dealers out of town.
“We’re cracking down on code enforcement in Charleroi and going after out-of-state property owners who never set foot in town,” he said. “Dealers are often found peddling drugs in those blighted properties.”
Shorraw believes that many people turn to drugs because they have lost hope.
“People don’t wake up and say, ‘I want to become a drug addict.’ They gradually get involved in drugs and can’t pull themselves out of it. We need to redirect these people to opportunities for getting their lives back together. And we can do that at the community level.”
Donora Mayor Jim McDonough said he feels that local police departments may have to take an even more aggressive approach to track down drug dealers.
“Perhaps we could start stopping cars driving through town that are suspicious,” he said. “They might help us to identify people who are using or selling drugs.”
All the mayors and police chiefs pledged to continue collaborating to find a solution for the area’s drug problem.
“I don’t know one city, borough or township in the Mon Valley that doesn’t have this problem,” said Kepics. “We’re all in it together. I hope we can continue this dialogue in the future and work together to win the war on drugs.”