The Village of Garden City Police Department has been asked to participate in Nassau County’s Heroin Task Force, announced Village Police Commissioner Ernest Cipullo at the January 14th meeting of the Garden City Board of Trustees.

“Unfortunately we have seen narcotics activity increase somewhat,” he said. “We are doing the best we can to eliminate it as much as we can.”

According to Inspector Kenneth Jackson of the Garden City Police Department, between January of 2009 and Jan. 16, 2010, the department made 62 drug/marijuana arrests in the village. Of those arrests, 43 were for the possession/sale of controlled substances including heroin and cocaine. Fifteen of those arrested are Garden City residents. The department made 19 arrests, eight involving Garden City residents, for the possession or sale of marijuana.

“These are arrests by Garden City detectives and/or police officers,” Inspector Jackson told The Garden City News via e-mail. “The department also works with the Nassau County Police Department, as demonstrated by a recent arrest of a major drug dealer at the Mineola Train Station. The information leading up to this arrest was obtained though an arrest investigation by Garden City detectives on Seventh Street.”

According to the Nassau County Police Department’s drug mapping index, 387 heroin drug arrests were made in Nassau County as of Dec. 30, six of which were in the Village and East Garden City.

The county’s heroin task force is still in the formation stage and will address all drug activity, not just heroin.