Martinsville police attend conference to help better combat opioid, heroin use

Opioid, heroin use continue to be department's major focus

MARTINSVILLE – Use of opioids, and especially heroin, continues to be the major focus of the Martinsville Police Department.

That's why members of the Police Department attended a national conference in New York City.

Implementing what they learned, though, could be in jeopardy because of the cut in Martinsville's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, and that could have a huge ripple effect.

The recent Police Executive Research Forum conference held at the New York Police Department headquarters galvanized Martinsville Police Chief Sean Dunn's belief that community policing is needed in order to continue to have success combating opioid and heroin use.

"I think what we learned is the best thing we can do is, number one, raise the awareness in our community, which we work hard to do, and then, number two, maximize those collaborations," Dunn explained.

In January, the Martinsville-Henry County area was No. 1 in the state for opioid and heroin overdoses per capita.

Because of collaboration with local religious leaders and community organizations to help raise awareness, the area has now dropped out of the top 10.

"We try to work very smart and we're going to continue doing that," said Dunn.

But, if the current proposed cut of about $50,000 from the department's budget is approved, the Police Department may have to lose an officer, and that would mean less community policing.

Martinsville's mayor and vice mayor said they understand the chief's concern.

"I don't think the budget, as presented, will get that far," said Mayor Gene Teague.

"We definitely want to represent and show that we actually care and appreciate all of the hard work he's done with community policing," said Vice Mayor Chad Martin.

What Dunn has accomplished includes a nearly 60 percent decrease in crime over the past three years.

But if community policing is reduced and fewer opioids and heroin are getting off the street, crime could start to increase.

On Monday night, City Council will hold its last scheduled budget work session at City Hall before holding a public hearing on the budget on April 25 and then potentially adopting the budget at the first council meeting in May.
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