Airmen learn about drugs to fight crime

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Lisa Spilinek
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AFB, Mass. --  Observations and hearsay from high school and college are not the best sources of information about illegal drug use.

That's why Detective James Donovan, a Saugus Police Department narcotics officer, was at Hanscom Sept. 17 and 18 toting a makeshift crack pipe, baggies of cocaine, heroin and marijuana, needles, and various knives all confiscated during drug busts. His job was to help Airmen assigned to the 66th Security Forces Squadron recognize drugs and drug paraphernalia in the event they encounter them during their day-to-day duties.

"Everybody thinks nothing happens at Hanscom, but you never know," Detective Donovan said to the group of mostly first-term Airmen.

"The more you keep people in the blind about drugs, the more they are going to say, 'not here.' This is another venue to educate people; we're opening up another line of education," he said.

Detective Donovan's recent visit to Hanscom was not his first. Senior Master Sgt. James Scott is an Air Force reservist currently serving as the 66 SFS's operations superintendent while many of the squadron's active-duty personnel are deployed. In his civilian job, Sergeant Scott is a patrolman with the Saugus Police and frequently works with Detective Donovan.

Sergeant Scott said he wanted the security forces Airmen to be armed with knowledge during their patrols so that if they encountered anything suspicious they would recognize the signs of drug abuse and take the proper actions.

"You never know where you're going to be," he said. "This allows them - whatever the circumstances whether [responding to] shoplifting, a car accident, or a domestic [dispute] - to be ready. We're giving them a foundation," Sergeant Scott said.

The drug familiarization training included lessons on evidence gathering, elements of drug possession, review of Article 112a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice as well as the Controlled Substance Act of 1970. The training, which was documented in the Airmen's training records, concluded with a controlled burn of marijuana.

"Now you can testify that you know what marijuana smells like," Sergeant Scott told the Airmen.

While drug arrests in Saugus, which is about 20 miles from Hanscom, are more frequent than on the base, security forces Airmen occasionally find people under the influence of or in possession of drugs, most often marijuana, Sergeant Scott said.

Since Hanscom is one of a handful of bases where first-term Airmen can go directly into conducting patrols after completing technical school, Airman 1st Class Phillip Prather, 66 SFS patrolman who has been at Hanscom five months, said the training was especially helpful.

"It [the training] gave me a reality of what kids do. This training will help me make the base safer and more secure," he said.

Airman 1st Class Nicole Barajas, a 66 SFS patrolwoman, agreed. "It was very helpful. The training makes me more aware and prepared about what to look for and what I need in order to make an arrest. I may be doing a traffic stop or in other situations, and notice something I wouldn't have. Now I know what the red flags are." 

Red flags were covered in depth during the training. Detective Donovan showed the Airmen how many OxyContin abusers conceal pills, worth $70-80 a piece, in lip balm containers and re-glued bags made for small, round candies, such as Skittles and M&Ms.

When OxyContin, a powerful prescription painkiller with properties similar to cocaine, becomes too expensive, the detective said many users begin purchasing cocaine from drug dealers.

"A lot of kids will start on Oxy, start stealing, get kicked out of their parents' home -- because they don't want to deal with that -- and then go to cocaine because Oxy is too expensive," he said.

Recognizing drug-related patterns was a point stressed by both Detective Donovan and Sergeant Scott repeatedly.

The Airmen were told what to look for when making traffic stops to include small bits of discarded, knotted plastic made from twisting off the corner of a bag when users want to take cocaine or heroin as well as little discarded pieces of cotton that users use to filter heroin before injecting it.

"If we were looking in vehicles during a [base entry point check] we'd know what to look for," said Airman Andrew Smith, a 66 SFS patrolman who has been stationed at Hanscom for five months.

Detective Donovan, who served in the Marine Corps before becoming a police officer, also taught the group the differences in the behaviors each drug induces, warning the Airmen to make sure they have back-up support when dealing with people high on crack and cocaine since these drugs make users extremely strong and almost invincible to pain.

The more than 40 Airmen who attended the two training sessions listened closely.

"Learning how people conceal drugs and what signs to look for was very helpful. Now we know how they hide things and what body signs, packaging and equipment to look for," Airman Barajas said.

Sergeant Scott, a father of four, stressed the importance of talking to children and teens about the dangers of drugs and told the Airmen, regardless of whether or not they have children, to treat the topic of drug abuse seriously.

Detective Donovan told the group, "I don't know anybody that wants to be a junkie," but warned, "If you don't have time to care for your kid, I've got all the time in the world as a drug dealer.

"Never, never, never suppress your instincts. Don't think it's not in your own community," the detective told the Airmen. "Drugs are across the world. Drugs present money; money funds terrorism."

(For more information, visit the Partnership for a Drug Free America Web site, www.drugfree.org.)