Groton — Police Chiefs from Groton Town, Groton City and Stonington visited the Gloucester, Mass. police department last week to learn more about a program that guides addicts seeking help to treatment rather than arresting them.

A representative from the chief medical examiner's office reported 11 overdose deaths in Groton alone this year, said Kenneth Edwards Jr., an inspector with the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office, who visited Gloucester.

“It’s alarming and it scares the hell out of me,” Edwards said. “Because ‘if not for the grace of God, go I.’ I have children, I have teenage children, I have friends who have teenage children.”

"First and foremost, it's obvious that the way we've been doing things, although very well intentioned, hasn't been working," he said.

"We have learned that all of our local communities have been impacted by the increased usage of heroin and other opioids," Groton Town Police Chief L.J. Fusaro said in an email. "As far as our approach, the Groton Town Police Department is committed to initiating positive and productive efforts in dealing with the issue."

Several people from Groton and chiefs from other local towns met with officials of the Gloucester police to discuss their initiative, Fusaro wrote. 

"Our hope is to use their experience to explore potential opportunities in our region. It is in its infancy, so we will need to continue to look at how best to potentially implement a similar program here," he said.

The Gloucester Police Department began combating the heroin and opiate epidemic in the community with a new program June 1 by telling addicts to bring in their drugs and they would be taken to treatment rather than arrested.

The Gloucester department helped place nearly 200 people in treatment in three and a half months, according to a Facebook page post Friday. Police are also seeing a reduction in addiction-related criminal complaints, the post said.

"It's an excellent program and we'd like to see if we can bring aspects of the program here, but there's a lot of planning and discussion that has to happen first," Groton City Deputy Chief Michael Guillot said.

The departments will move slowly at first to assure that when they do act, the plan works.

Stonington Police Chief J. Darren Stewart said Friday it's too early to say what they might do.

Edwards works on cold case homicides, so he has no direct involvement in daily police work.

But he said he could offer to help by working with local prosecutors to make sure those placed in treatment don't face additional charges like failure to appear in court while they're in recovery.

He has a personal reason to invest himself.

Less than a year ago he was helping a friend with her son, who lived in a sober house in New London. 

The friend called Edwards one day saying her son didn't come outside to get picked up for his first day of a new job.

Edwards arrived, found the door locked and heard the television on. He broke down the door and discovered the son dead on the bed.

On Wednesday Edwards attended a forum on opiate and heroin addiction held at Stonington High School. About 40 people were there, he said.

"At the rate that kids are dropping right now, we should have had that place packed," he said. "Nobody sees the urgency. Well, there's urgency, I'm here to tell you."

Those dying don’t fit the Hollywood portrayal of an addict, Edwards said.

“These are good kids,” he said. “There are kids who maybe started their addiction through prescription painkillers, and then maybe moved on to heroin” because a prescription pill can cost $50 while heroin sells for $5 a bag, he said.

The drugs are also readily accessible, he said. “It takes a lot of guts to walk into a housing project to buy drugs, but not to go to grandma’s medicine cabinet. It’s there right in front of you.”

Groton Town Councilor Joe de la Cruz, whose son is battling addiction, said he is trying to arrange a meeting in the coming weeks for those who attended the Gloucester meeting, and invite representatives from Groton Human Services and the Groton Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention coalition.

Fusaro wrote that the Gloucester initiative has yielded some good results, and the department was helpful in pointing out what worked and how to avoid some potential pitfalls.

Those who attended will meet again soon to discuss next steps, he wrote.

When asked about the investment of officers' time the program would require, he wrote that it was too early to estimate. 

"Again, we are at an early stage and still have a lot of work to do, but we may find this to be a wise investment if it reduces the cascading effects of addiction and how it manifests itself in other areas of our communities," he wrote.

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim