What’s on the streets? KPD’s Brian Robertson knows

CJR: How are you getting close to the streets to know what’s up? Doesn’t everyone know your silly mug by now?

BR: Clean Sweep took over 100 people, mostly men, majority of them went to prison and then that took a lot of people out of the city. Biggest thing in the city, ever. It had a lot of drastic effects. Anyone who is new here, we now know about them. So I still do under covers, but with those who are new and don’t know me.

CJR: Where is everyone coming from? What are they doing in Kingston?

BR: Have a lot of influx with Poughkeepsie but still a fair amount with New York City. Mostly through family connections. We are seeing people coming here and doing a lot of activity around pills: forged prescriptions, stolen scripts from New York City, stealing pads from [New York-based] doctor offices — pharmacists are pretty sharp. They won’t fill the scripts, and they will call us. It happens that sometimes someone will drop off a script, and get nervous and not go pick it up.

CJR: Is social media helping or hurting?

BR: I think it helps.  Facebook helped a lot with the bank robbery, and several rape cases, burglaries, car larcenies … people will say they saw something on Facebook.

CJR: How has the drug court changed the scene, if at all?

BR: I think it does work. There’s guys who try to hide in it but they try to get drug court under the guise of being a user. We usually know. We can tell by the guys who are in it for money, and they are not drug users. We work with drug court all the time. … Not everyone is a candidate for drug court, in my opinion.

CJR: What’s the deal with heroin users?

BR: A lot of the heroin addicts I know started with car accidents and didn’t have health insurance, or it ran out because they stop working from the accident.  By now, they are opiate-addicted. Most of them will try pills if they cannot get any heroin. They know what their problem is. Heroin use plays a big part in the car larcenies. It is a $200-per-day habit. They have to find that money somehow — selling heroin, doing burglaries or car larcenies.

A lot of people who [overdose] are not dope fiends. Fringe users get a good bag when they are used to shitty bags.  It’s a dangerous game — pushing the drug in and out with a needle. Or have someone else do it for them. Ninety percent of our heroin users have everything done by 10 a.m. so they have their day set. A heroin user’s day: need to get that fix first thing in the morning, like a cigarette. Hardcore addicts know when they’re going to get dope sick. If they sleep for five hours but they get sick every seven hours, they know they only have two hours to get their next dose. You can ask any regular user what time they are going to get sick, and they will tell you.

CJR: Who are the users?

BR: Everyone. Eighteen-year-old and 19-year-old people; 63-year-olds. There’s no one average profile of a heroin user. People start by sniffing it, then skin popping, injection and then they are regular users.

CJR: Steroids?

BR: We investigate it, but we don’t see any new trends in it.

CJR: Proud of?

BR: We really have no bath salts here in Kingston. There was one place where bath salts were coming through on Broadway, Head to Toe head shop, but after it closed there have been no problems with it. Thankfully! KPD did a great job there, because it’s bad, bad stuff.

CJR: Where’s coke and where’s heroin?

BR: Kingston night scene is still mostly powder cocaine. Heroin users hang out with other heroin users. Social drug with fellow users. You will hear someone say, “I know so and so from the dope scene.”

CJR: Sgt. Robertson, really, Kingston Times readers want to know … How many tattoos do you have?

BR: HA! Thirty.  All different things. Mike Locasio, who owns Ink Ink uptown, has been a good friend of mine. Can you tell?