Drug Dealer Frets: I’m Not Going Into Braidwood, They’ll Bust Me

BRAIDWOOD, IL — Federal agents got to hear for themselves what drug dealers think of the climate in Braidwood, the police chief of the small town on Interstate 55 said recently.

“The DEA has a wiretap of an area drug dealer outside of Braidwood,” said Chief Nick Ficarello, a retired deputy chief from the Will County Sheriff’s Department.

“He was quite a large drug dealer,” Ficarello said. “On the wire he said, ‘I’m not going into Braidwood. They’ll bust me.’”

The Braidwood police made 47 drug arrests in 2016. The town of about 6,000 also saw four die of drug overdoses, and police saved another nine lives by administering Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse the effects of opioid medication in the case of an emergency.

It was a pair of overdose deaths that prompted James Vehrs to rethink his priorities after he was elected mayor in 2015 but before he actually took office.

“In between the election and the swearing-in, in that short time, I saw two young people come out in body bags,” Vehrs said, telling how he then “had a whole different agenda.”

The highlight of that agenda was battling heroin, he said, and he brought his idea to Ficarello, who began as Braidwood’s police chief when Vehrs took office.

“He said, ‘What’s the agenda?’” Vehrs said. “I said, ‘Get the heroin off the streets. I don’t care if it’s one hit or 100 hits. I want it off the streets.’”

Ficarello said he was approached by the Drug Enforcement Administration shortly after he took the chief’s job and asked about his department’s involvement in a heroin task force. A Braidwood officer is part of the Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad as well.

Ficarello also went about assembling a departmental team dedicated to narcotics enforcement, including one officer who pilots a helicopter as part of his duties.

“The helicopter is a tool,” Ficarello said. “It’s there when we need it. It’s privately owned by one of the officers and costs the taxpayers absolutely nothing.”

But the overall effort does cost money, money the mayor is willing to spend.

“How do you put a price on the safety of a resident?” Vehrs said.

Stepped up local enforcement is one prong in a three-prong approach instituted by Ficarello. The department also belongs to multi-jurisdictional task forces and participates in programs to get addicts treatment. One program, Communities Helping Addicts Needing to Gain Empowerment, allows area residents who seek help for their addictions at the police department. There is also the Braidwood Area Healthy Community Coalition.

With the increased drug enforcement, Ficarello said, crimes against property have declined. There were 24 burglaries in 2014, 15 is in 2015 and just six in 2016, he said. Thefts dropped from 75 in 2015 to 39 in 2016.

Vehrs believes the proliferation of drugs in Braidwood and surrounding communities can be attributed to a lack of opportunity in the area — something he is trying to change — and the belief that the police don’t have sufficient staff or resources to adequately combat it.

“They think Braidwood, Wilmington, Godley, the police departments aren’t going to spend that much time,” Vehrs said. “But Braidwood does."

(left to right) Braidwood City Administrator Don Labriola, Mayor James Vehrs and Police Chief Nick Ficarello