Citizens’ Police Academy: Week Two

I’m not doing so well with Citizens’ Police Academy, am I?

I’m tardy with my weekly post, and I was even tardy to class on Wednesday -- but for good reason.

On the original agenda for Wednesday’s class at were the topics of DUIs and crash investigations.

Little did I know that as my friend, who also is enrolled, and I headed toward the department, we’d literally put the pieces of a motor vehicle accident together in a matter of 30 seconds.

We had just crested the hill on Route 191 past Giant in Lower Nazareth Township when a flash and a bang made both of us jump -- I was the driver, Bailey Reichard of Plainfield Township was my passenger.

I wondered out loud, “Was that a firework?”

Bailey -- almost jumping out of my car while it was still in motion -- yelled, “No, that was a car hitting a pole!”

She pointed to a car that had come to rest in a field not far from . I immediately pulled over, called 911 and rushed over to make sure the driver was OK.

Thankfully, the driver -- and the only person in the vehicle -- was walking around and seemed to be in good shape. He was maybe 18 years old and said he had fallen asleep at the wheel, drifting into the other lane and striking the telephone pole.

His airbags deployed, but his car didn’t seem to be in that bad of shape for whacking a pole, which broke about halfway up and cut power to nearby houses and businesses.

As we waited for an officer from Colonial Regional Police, the young man's parents arrived -- really quickly, as parents do. Bailey and I tried to make light of a bad situation by relating to the driver -- between the two of us, we’ve totaled a car or two… more like four...

After we talked to the officer and were told to head out, we eventually made it to our second Citizens’ Police Academy class -- 15 minutes late.

Our excuse for being tardy would have worked in our favor had the DUI and crash investigation class taken place, but because of an accident -- a different one -- the original presenter had to tend to, we learned about narcotics and the Northampton County Drug Task Force instead.

That’s OK. The presentation by Det. Sgt. Mike Melinsky (BIG Poppy) and Sgt. Michael Enstrom (Little “E”) was very informative and quite entertaining at times.

First we learned the difference between schedule 1, schedule II and schedule III.

Schedule 1:

• High potential for abuse
• Is not accepted for medicinal purposes -- at this time -- in the U.S.
• There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision

Schedule II:

• High potential for abuse
• Is accepted for medicinal purposes in the U.S., or has an accepted medical use with strict restrictions
• Abuse of schedule II drugs or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence

Schedule III:

• A lower potential for abuse than drugs or other substances under schedules I and II
• Is accepted for medicinal purposes in the U.S.
• Abuse of schedule III drugs or other substances may lead to moderate to low psychological or physical dependence

Schedule I drugs include heroin, GHB, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD -- Melinsky likes to state the full name), ecstasy, mushrooms and marijuana (except in California).

Schedule II drugs include cocaine, methamphetamine and PCP.

Schedule III drugs include GHB and ketamine.

For those who might not know, GHB is also known as the "date rape drug," and ketamine is actually an animal tranquilizer used for veterinary anaesthesiology. Ketamine is not used on humans for medicinal purposes because it induces psychedelic episodes.

GHB is both a schedule I and III because the GHB-containing pharmaceutical product, Xyrem, is controlled as a schedule III drug.

According to Melinsky -- who specializes in "vices" like narcotics and prostitution investigations -- each community Colonial Regional Police covers is different.

“There isn’t one that is worse than the other,” he said about Lower Nazareth Township, Hanover Township and Bath -- not mentioning Chapman Borough.

Melinsky added that “Lower Nazareth has the influence of Easton. Hanover Township has the influence of Bethlehem. Bath, believe it or not, has the influence of Allentown.”

Colonial Regional Police has 21 officers assigned to the Northampton County Drug Task Force. That includes Melinsky, who is the field supervisor for the northern tier of Northampton County. This tier is made up of 15 municipalities.

In 2010, the task force / Colonial Regional:

• Seized two vehicles, which were then forfeited to the county
• Seized $6,382 in cash
• Participated in 53 cases, resulting in the arrest of 34 suspected offenders

During the class, we also had the opportunity to look -- and sometimes touch -- items that had been confiscated by officers over the years, including knives, hats with marijuana leaves displayed on them, water bongs, and several hookahs. A hookah that still stands out in my mind was made out of an old gumball machine.

On the agenda for next week? Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek.

Good thing I don't have an uber-queasy stomach! I don't think...