MILFORD — A federal audit has reported that the number of drug crimes in the city is decreasing, by up to 61%.
At a City Council meeting Sept. 9, the chief of the Milford Police Department said the agency’s Behavioral Health Unit, which helps with drug and substance use situations, was the focus of the study.
“The one we were recently audited on last week was the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant and Substance Use Program,” Chief Cecilia Ashe said. “This afforded the police department, through a federal grant, to expand the hours of the current part-time Behavioral Health Unit workers, while also simultaneously increasing the hours and hiring two additional staff members.”
The unit now has four mental health clinicians, increasing the amount of time they can devote to these types of cases.
“We now have seven-day coverage,” Chief Ashe continued. “The goal is to really try to get us to 24-hour coverage, as well, (to) try to combat the behavioral health issues, ... as well as the opioid crisis.”
The federal report also showed the success of the police department since adding the Behavioral Health Unit in 2021.
“We are making significant progress,” Chief Ashe said. “I am not going to say that we won the battle because I think this is very cyclical.”
In January-September 2023, there were 33 calls for service concerning overdoses, the findings note. In 2024, there have been 15 during that period. This represents a 61% decrease.
The calls for a response pertaining to drug use also went down, with 204 calls in the first nine months of 2023, compared to 125 so far this year, a change of 39%.
As far as calls for service for drug arrests, in 2023, there were 104 complaints through September, with 91 at this time in 2024. This marks a 13% decrease.
“These are all positive numbers because it shows that we are making an impact in reducing our calls for service. We are making an impact on overlaying multiple strategies of not just deploying our Behavioral Health Unit but working in concert with the state to get Narcan out in the field to reduce the fatality rate,” Chief Ashe said.
“We are also reducing the arrests, which means we are not arresting people just to arrest them because we know, in this environment, like in all crime, we are not going to arrest our way out of it.”
The chief did note, however, that similar statistics from fire departments and paramedics were not included in the report. To help with that, Milford police have begun using the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program, software that can be employed by all first responders to track overdose and drug cases.
Using that program, similar trends were seen in relation to such crime, she said.
“This does not mean by any stretch ... that we are not enforcing laws,” Chief Ashe continued. “We are still going after those that are dealing drugs.
“To me, this indicates that we are being very targeted and specific to those who are inflicting this harm onto our communities or those that are not heeding the warning of getting the help or the things that they need to combat their addiction.”
She went on to say that these numbers can show how improvements are resulting from residents’ tax dollars.
“I hope these types of highlights per month really show not only the council and the mayor but our citizens what our taxpayers’ money is paying for, especially when we look at crime analysis and the Behavioral Health Unit and the tremendous success we are already seeing.”
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