Number of Marco drug busts increasing
Friday, June 14, 2002
By VICTOR A. HILL, vahill@naplesnews.com
When it comes to illegal drugs on Marco Island, users tend to get busted for marijuana or possession of more exotic substances such as Ecstasy or heroin.
And the number of Marco drug busts is on the rise, so much so, that island police could more than double their number of arrests this year than in any year since 2000, a review of Police Department reports reveals.
The department logged 47 drug arrests by May 31, compared to 53 in 2001 and 50 in 2000. The arrests include everything from possession of narcotics paraphernalia to the bust of two crack houses May 31.
"Nothing is happening any differently. It's not like we're into a surge of drug activity," Capt. Thom Carr said.
"We're getting used to who we're dealing with."
"We're doing a better job is what those numbers are," Police Chief Roger Reinke said.
Police haven't stepped up efforts to curtail drug activity, Reinke said. Rather, officers of the department, which hit the beat three years ago, are more familiar with drug "hot spots," he said.
Officers Brian O'Malley and Hector Diaz, who handles a K- 9, recently completed a drug recognition school that taught them ways to recognize people potentially transporting drugs.
The department also received a $10,000 grant this year from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct narcotics investigations. The city added $1,100. The bulk of the money will pay for overtime hours for officers to work in areas of known drug activity such as local bars and along San Marco Road, Carr said. Officers will also increase patrol time around Tommie Barfield Elementary and Marco Island Charter Middle schools.
Despite the surge in arrests, the idea of Marco having a drug problem is a subjective assertion, at best, police said.
"We have the same drug problem as the average city in the United States has," Carr said. "I say it's better for us here because we don't have the poorer neighborhoods here. It does make it a little easier for us. We don't have people dealing drugs off the corner."
Detective Kevin Hennings, a former narcotics investigator in Fort Pierce who took the position in February after a stint as a beat cop, agreed.
"Define 'problem,'" he said. "I mean, me personally, if I had a crack dealer living next door to me, it would definitely be a problem."
The May 31 drug arrest of 53-year-old Falco Giancarlo, accused of manufacturing and selling crack and powdered cocaine from two apartments at Marco Manor, added another drug into the mix on an island known for occasional busts, usually involving marijuana, Ecstasy or heroin.
"It's whatever people want," Carr said. "Cocaine was for the rich, but because it's so cheap and plentiful now, anyone can get it."
Giancarlo's arrest came after lengthy surveillance by Marco police and relied on an anonymous informant to make drug purchases.
Hennings and Carr said they expect more arrests in the months to come but declined to elaborate.
Like a casual drug user who seeks a bigger, better fix, Marco has graduated as well, Hennings said.
"If we didn't send a message when we hit those apartments, we will be soon," Hennings said. "Expect it."
Remember...Marco Island is about 7 miles in diameter at most....is all of this necessary? Or is there really more to the ever growing picture here?
State committee on terrorism chaired by Chief Murphy
Wednesday, June 12, 2002
By VICTOR A. HILL, Staff Writer
When the planes crashed, when the towers fell, firefighters and police were the protectors, the first ones on the scene.
To protect Florida against such destruction and loss of life, Marco Island's own fire chief, Michael Murphy, has quietly chaired a state committee on terrorism in the months since Sept. 11, working to obtain more equipment to combat threats to domestic security.
He heads up the State Working Group on Domestic Preparedness through next year. It was previously a committee of 25 officials from local and state agencies. But after Sept. 11, the committee grew to more than 50 members with a half-dozen subcommittees that investigate ways to deal with terrorism and methods to streamline cooperation among agencies.
Since then, local fire and police departments have benefited from the group's work, including Marco Island, which re ceived about $70,000 worth of high-tech equipment such as radiation detectors, decontamination equipment and computers. Other county agencies will receive equipment as well, Murphy said. The allocation is part of a $9.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Murphy doesn't see Marco's share of equipment as an indication the island could be a target for terrorism.
"All American cities have the potential for terrorism," he said.
"It can take many forms, wheth er it's an attack on a visiting dignitary or someone who lives in the community and has ties to various organizations who could become a target.
"I don't think anybody needs to be paranoid about terrorism, but they need to be aware of it, and terrorism isn't new to the United States."
The fallout of Sept. 11 only adds to concerns committee members already had, Murphy said. As an example, abortion clinics have been targets of domestic terrorism for years.
"Terrorism is here, and it has been," he said.
Florida officials took a lead in establishing measures to combat terrorist activity before Sept. 11. Florida was one of only two states approved for grant money from the Department of Justice and was one of only four states that had a plan to deal with terrorism, Murphy said.
"What Florida did a little bit differently is it drove money and resources down to a basic level and put it in the hands of people who do the job," he said.
"It didn't try to create a level of bureaucracy."
Under the committee's guidance, state and local law enforcement and rescue workers agreed to share resources and intelligence.
The committee is working to coordinate a consistent system of communication among agencies so fire departments and state agencies speak the same lingo, Murphy said.
"Each group is going to operate on the same page," he said.
Marco is part of a 10-county regional task force coordinated by Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter.
I would give Marco Island a five diamond rating for the discriminating terrorist.
Horse puckey. Marco is located right at the northern end of "1000 (or is it 10,000?) islands," mangrove swamps/islands notorious as hiding places for drug smugglers who can bring up boatloads of drugs undetected. When I lived in Naples in '88, a very wealthy attorney at our club made his mega-living defending drug runners. Creep.
I wonder whether those Arabs on Marco are cashing in on drug business to fund al Qaeda. Probably. You might run this past your FBI connection, or even call the DEA.