Nassau Police Dept's heroin squad –– out of the public eye

Part six in a series.

Happening upon this seemingly abandoned lot might leave you with the feeling that you're about to witness a late-night drug deal, but in fact, you would have stumbled on one of the places that heroin dealers and addicts fear most.

It's the heart of the Nassau County Police Department's Heroin Task Force. Much of what happens here is kept under wraps. Police asked that the address be kept confidential. The following is what authorities can share.

Out of sight

The road to Narcotics Vice Squad is an unmarked driveway leading to a dirt parking lot overgrown with weeds. It appears that there isn't a police car in sight -- but they are there. These aren't the white-and-blue squad cars or unmarked Ford Crown Victorias that any criminal can spot. They are undercover cars, different makes and models, seized in arrests and outfitted for police work.

"Our work is covert -- we're undercover," said Detective Lt. Peter Donohue, deputy commanding officer of the Narcotics Vice Squad.

Pulling into the parking lot of his office, in the 8th Precinct, you have little idea where you are. The building, an old Grumman garage, is unmarked, set amid an industrial landscape.

Inside, the walls are plastered with newspaper clippings and mug shots from drug arrests. There are holding cells where offenders stay after their arrests until they are transported to police headquarters in Mineola.

"You arrest someone for heroin and their only thought is, How do I get out of here?" Donohue said. The most frightening thought for many of the junkies he has arrested is not jail, he said; it's being separated from their drugs.

A growing problem

So far this year, the Heroin Task Force has made 305 arrests. This represents a steady increase in heroin-related arrests in the county, up from 211 in 2008 and well on the way to surpassing last year's 390.

"A large part of that is our own enforcement methods," Donohue said, explaining that the task force was created this year to deal with what police say is the area's biggest law-enforcement problem.