By BROOKE WANSER
In the ongoing national opioid crisis, Tennessee has been among the hardest hit states, with 1,631 overdose deaths in 2016. While Williamson County may feel a world away from the poorer reaches of the state, during a candid discussion of drug use in Franklin, police said the county faces the same problems as everyone else.
Detective Robert Dilworth has worked for the Franklin Police Department since 2015. He previously worked at the Brentwood Police Department and made the move to Franklin after his father retired from the city’s force.
He works in the major crimes division, after developing an interest in criminal enforcement and narcotics.
In an interview, Dilworth and Franklin Police chief spokesman Lt. Charles Warner discussed the opioid crisis’ toll on Franklin, how officers respond to an overdose, and the recent deployment of Narcan, a prescription inhalant used to treat the effects of an opioid overdose.
Franklin Home Page: (to Det. Dilworth) Do you specifically have an interest in narcotics and/or opioids?
Det. Robert Dilworth: When I was on the street, I just liked the criminal enforcement aspect of it. I just enjoyed the criminal element in trying to find the bad guys. Usually, your criminals don’t just stick to one crime.
FHP: In terms of opioids, is there some trend you’ve noticed here in Franklin?
Dilworth: I would always try to talk to addicts after I arrested them, just to gain knowledge. Seems like a large majority started with a legitimate prescription for a pain pill. Through that prescription, they got hooked. Their prescription ran out, they couldn’t get it, so they started getting pills on the streets. Those either got too expensive or got to where the high wasn’t good enough, so they started going into your heroin and things of that nature.
FHP: Where do you get heroin in Franklin?
Lt. Charles Warner: It’s not hard.
Dilworth: It’s readily accessible. Our narcotics unit, I know they are combating this, but if you gave me an hour, I could probably have you any type of drug here from Franklin that you wanted.
Warner: Less than an hour.
FHP: That’s wild. When did you guys start using Narcan?
Dilworth: I believe we deployed it in September of 2017.
FHP: Is that something that all of the city police forces in Tennessee are now starting to use?
Dilworth: I think Nashville has it, I think it’s getting rolled out.
Warner: We’re seeing more across Tennessee, not only to be a protection to the community, but to be a protection to those police officers, because officer exposure are also on the rise.
FHP: If there’s a tiny amount of fentanyl (a strong opioid medication), it could kill you?
Dilworth: You can overdose on about a quarter of a gram. An officer, I think it was somewhere in the Midwest, made a traffic stop, arrested a female for a narcotics violation, and through just touching her substances and inhaling it, they used Narcan on him.
FHP: How much does Narcan cost?
Warner: We paid $6,300 for 168 doses of it in 2017. We had a second round of it that had some grant funding attached to it. We thought, hey, if we’ve got an opportunity to save a citizen or a police officer’s life, we’re going to do it, and we’re going to foot the bill for it. But now that grant funding is a little more readily available, we realize that’s a great way to fund that as well.
FHP: When an officer is in a situation, how do you determine if you need to administer Narcan?
Dilworth: If somebody is unconscious, and there’s either a history of opioid overdose, there’s drug or paraphernalia within plain sight, things of that nature, there’s some certain physical things your body does when you overdose. You can administer it, and worst case scenario, if we miss and get it wrong, the person is going to have a headache.
Warner: You’re not going to hurt them if they’re not overdosing. We’d rather administer it and get it wrong than miss a cue and an opportunity to save someone’s life.
FHP: I know we’re in Franklin, but do you know, in Williamson County, if you had to venture a guess, what area would be worst affected by opioids?
Dilworth: I think it’s pretty universal. You’ve got everything from street level users to your very well off people.
Warner: I don’t think there’s a community that’s immune to it in some way, whether it’s through abuse, whether it’s through illicit street drugs, whether it’s through abuse of prescription drugs. In some way, I think every community is impacted.
FHP: After you administer Narcan to somebody, what happens next?
Dilworth: If it’s successful, generally they’ll wake up within five to 10 seconds. Sometimes they’ll be combative. It’s hard to get in their mind, but it’s either, “you ruined my high,” or “hey, I woke up and these people are standing around me and I don’t know what’s going on.”
Warner: There’s been a couple where one dose doesn’t quite do it, we have to administer a second dose. And we’ve had times where the fire department or EMS arrive, and they have larger doses. And they’ve had to administer additional follow up doses. Each one has been necessary to bring them to the next level of safety before they’re transported to the hospital.
FHP: So they’re transferred to the hospital, but they’ve committed a crime? Then what happens?
Warner: Well, maybe they have, and maybe they haven’t.
Dilworth: That’s a very case-by-case basis. If a crime has been committed, our first goal is still to get that person to safety. We can address other issues down the road I would say every case is different, but if there is any criminal element, we at least investigate it to see what it is, and if there’s a chain we can climb to find out who’s putting these drugs on the street, then we certainly try to do that.
FHP: Does this tie into the drug court?
Dilworth: Most of the street level things that we’re discussing here wouldn’t rise to a felony circuit court level. In general sessions court, they’ll offer a plea deal a lot of times, to get an alcohol/drug assessment then follow the recommendations of that assessment as part of their deal, and if they don’t they could violate their probation.
FHP: Are there drug rings here?
Warner: There’s drug rings everywhere.
Dilworth: I wouldn’t say we are a source city. But, drugs are here. From marijuana to heroin and meth, it’s all here in Franklin.
Warner: Drugs is a long-standing problem, I don’t think just for the Franklin community, but in America’s communities across the nation.
FHP: For the people charged with a crime after overdosing, what do you think is the best way our community can help? In terms of the way we talk about opioids and the way we deal with addiction.
Dilworth: Sweeping it under the rug and pretending like it doesn’t exist is not the answer. That’s going to lead to more victims.
Warner: Parents need to talk to their kids and have very candid conversations. The conversations my parents had with me was about drinking and driving. That conversation has changed. Now, to taking other people’s prescriptions or trying a drug with friends at a party. These are the other real dangers that go way beyond alcohol.
Dilworth: Williamson County has money. When you have money, you have drugs. I think when you think drugs, you think of the guy on the corner who hasn’t had a shower in a while. It ranges from yes, those, to millionaires.
FHP: Is there a way that this crisis looks different here than it would in other counties surrounding us?
Dilworth: We have the same crime as everywhere else, as Memphis, as Nashville, but the scale is what sets us apart.
Warner: The deployment of Narcan in Nashville is at a much higher rate than the deployment here, but it’s because they have so many more citizens. I think that population, socioeconomics, toughness on crime, all of those things have a play in how much or how little you see of those things.
*This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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