NEW BEDFORD — When police encounter someone who's gotten themselves into a bad situation due to drug addiction, arrest is no longer the only answer. It's a culture change in policing that's made its way to New Bedford, where those who help NBPD facilitate alternative approaches say it's been a success.
"I tell the new officers coming in, look at us as a tool on your tool belt," said Natashia Patricio, program coordinator for Community Outreach for NBPD.
Patricio says her position — a civilian role within the department — exists to facilitate programming like LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) Outreach, aimed at reducing "police contacts and chronic criminal law violations by addressing the underlying causes like drug use, mental illness or extreme poverty," as its described on NBPD's website.
"The DA's office is seeing that substance abuse is not a criminal issue, it's more of a mental health issue and so they're treating it as such," Patricio said. "An officer might say, hey Natashia, this person doesn't need to be arrested. Can you help them out?
"So we're getting to the root of the problem of why they're shoplifting, why they might be prostituting on the street or something like that."
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"The officers make that determination and the referral comes to us after it gets approved," explained Lizandra Gonzales, assistant program coordinator for NBPD's LEAD Outreach/Mental Health Unit. "It's definitely a culture change and it's nice to see that in our city compared to some other places where these things are not as prevalent."
Jumping into action
When fentanyl began emerging as a leading street drug — and cause of overdoses — in the city and beyond over five years ago, Gonzales and Patricio say it was the first time city agencies gathered together to participate in programming as a collective.
"So when the Xylazine project came out, we already had a blueprint of how to get the community agencies involved in it," Patricio said of recent similar programming, this time for education on the drug Xylazine — a veterinary tranquilizer meant for large animals, which has been highlighted by state and federal agencies for its rapid emergence in street drug supplies. Experts have suspected Xylazine may be a reason overdose death rates have remained relatively flat despite strides made in recent years to make treatment and overdose reversal drug Narcan more widely available.
The program, titled, "Responding to Xylazine (R2X): A Public Health-Public Safety Initiative," was held in February and facilitated by PAARI (Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative.) New Bedford was one of seven Mass. cities chosen to take part, Patricio said.
Xylazine info now part of standard learning for new NBPD officers
Aside from teaching NBPD and members of other local agencies and groups things like best practices for overdoses suspected to involve Xylazine, R2X covered another unique aspect: "Xylazine wounds," Patricio and Gonzales said. The two noted the wounds — which have been known to corrode flesh so deeply that bone becomes exposed — may appear within 24 hours of Xylazine use, and can occur after only a single use, even if it's the user's first time.
"Typically with a regular wound you want to let it air dry and sort of just let it heal on its own. With these type of wounds you can't do that," Gonzales said. "So you shouldn't be treating them with alcohol or peroxide because you don't want to dry them out; you want to cover them and just keep ointment on them to keep them moist...."
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Patricio noted that wound treatment, as well as other knowledge gained on Xylazine, are now standard learning for new officers coming into the department. For outreach staff, these lessons may come in handy while responding to an overdose or making their presence felt in one of the city's "hot spots" for drug activity, Patricio and Gonzales said.
Why is Xylazine being used recreationally?
"We go to any overdoses in the city ... so if we do encounter someone who does have a Xylazine wound, we know what to do and what not to do," Patricio said. According to Patricio, many drug users who do experience such wounds are unaware that it could be from Xylazine.
In fact, some drug users are unaware they've even been taking Xylazine, Patricio said.
"A lot of times they don't know it until they're hooked on it, because it gets mixed in with the Fentanyl, or the crack, heroin, or pressed pills that are out on the street," Patricio said.
As for why it's become an increasingly common additive in street drugs, Gonzales said, "It's cheap, it's accessible. It extends the high of whatever they're using," noting it is readily available for purchase online and unregulated by the FDA due to its veterinary application.
New Bedford spared the worst
While Gonzales and Patricio say Xylazine's presence is definitely being felt in New Bedford, they say the city has been more fortunate than other communities, even its urban SouthCoast neighbor 15 minutes away.
"They even have a wound care clinic," Patricio said of Fall River, also noting Xylazine "blackouts" appear to be more prevalent there than in New Bedford, according to accounts she's heard from colleagues. The blackouts leave people vulnerable to things like theft and sexual assault, she added. "People are waking up three, four, five hours later and have no idea what happened. ... I know some outreach workers who've been seeing that happening over there."
Patricio, Gonzales and NBPD communications staff were not sure of the rate of Xylazine findings in drugs confiscated in New Bedford. According to information from PAARI, it's being found in about 90% of illicit opioids confiscated in the Philadelphia area. NBPD did not provide local data on Xylazine in time for this publishing.
NBPD outreach workers optimistic
Patricio and Gonzales say despite the potential for new threats like Xylazine to emerge at any time, they retain optimism that vigilance and the department's more compassionate approach to drug addiction will keep New Bedford a safer place than it otherwise would be.
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"The face of policing is definitely changing. ... I think people are feeling more comfortable about accessing services, asking for Narcan and things like that," Gonzales said, noting families sometimes stop by the police station voluntarily for help. "We weren't hearing of any cases yet when we were being trained. Even now there may be a case here and there, but we're not hearing potentially as many as we would have if we hadn't been proactive."
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