Comparison of arrests reported by local police departments

BY ERIKA NORTON
Increased drug use throughout the Tri-state area is taking a toll on local communities and has become a top concern for district attorneys and police chiefs.
As part of ongoing reporting on the prescription opioid and heroin epidemic, Straus News sent Freedom of Information requests to local police chiefs to share information about drug arrests compared to last year, looking at the first three months of each year.
The intent is to look more closely at the number of arrests by location. The info graphicis the number of drug arrests compared to the number of non-drug arrests over the first three months of 2016 versus the first three months of 2017 in each municipality.

The State Police of Monroe, which experienced a large increase in overall arrests, saw the largest increase in drug arrests, jumping from 38 percent of all arrests being drug-related during the first quarter of 2016, to 52 percent of all arrests being drug-related this January through March.
Chester also saw a slight increase in drug arrests.
Due to the increase in awareness of the opioid epidemic, it was expected that there would be more drug arrests made in 2017 than in 2016.
While this was the case in some places, it was not in the majority of those Straus News received information from, such as Monroe, the Town of Goshen and the Village of Chester, which saw decreases in drug arrests.
Greenwood Lake and the Village of Chester saw slight decreases in drug arrests.
While the situation may be different in other municipalities, in West Milford, N.J., Lt. Keith Ricciardi said that the decrease in the number of drug arrests between the first three months of 2016 and 2017 is due to new state laws. When police respond to an overdose situation, while the drugs are still seized, the individual assisted is exempt from being charged with drug possession.
Similar laws exist in New York State as well.
Drug arrests range from unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation generally punished with a fine in New York State, to first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a Class A-1 felony in New York State that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.