Drug task force coordinator leaving position

The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — A key player in the uphill battle to reduce the opiate epidemic is changing jobs.

Josiah C. “Si” Schiavone, a state police supervisory special agent and coordinator of the Northwest Virginia Regional Drug and Gang Task Force, is being promoted to first sergeant and will be stationed in Culpeper in the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, where he will work white-collar crime cases. The change is effective May 10.

“This was definitely the toughest career decision I’ve ever had to make, because I do feel attached to this,” Schiavone told about 50 people at the monthly Northern Shenandoah Valley Substance Abuse Coalition meeting on Thursday.

The 36-year-old Schiavone grew up in Winchester and joined the Virginia State Police in 2004. He became a drug investigator in 2009 and took over the 28-officer task force in December of 2016.

By then, the deadly national opioid epidemic had taken hold locally. In 2016, 30 people died from heroin overdoses in Winchester and Clarke, Frederick, Page, Shenandoah and Warren counties, the task force’s region, compared to one in 2012. A record 40 people died last year.

Through Wednesday, Schiavone said there have been nine area deaths and 67 nonfatal overdoses in 2018. That’s down from 20 deaths and 74 nonfatal overdoses at this time last year.

Schiavone is cautiously optimistic about the decrease in deaths. In a Friday email, he credited the drop to more distribution of the overdose reversal drug naloxone and the “amazing partnership” between police and drug prevention and treatment advocates.

He said police can only have a temporary effect on the epidemic by arresting suppliers. The long-term solution is to decrease demand through education and treatment.

“We need to convince people to stop using drugs and never to start,” Schiavone said. “We realize as a community that we need to focus on the children and educate them on prevention and help those who are already in the grasp of addiction.”

Through the use of confidential informants, electronic and video surveillance and wiretaps, the task force tries to target major drug dealers. But many addicts are low-level dealers who deal drugs to pay for their habit.

Schiavone has worked closely with the coalition and the Northwest Regional Adult Drug Treatment Court to try to decrease the cycle of addiction and imprisonment for low-level dealers and users. “Si’s been very supportive of the effort.” said Tim Coyne, area public defender and co-founder of the drug court, which began in 2016.

In an interview Thursday, Schiavone said it’s easy to burn out as coordinator because of the long hours of investigations and the pain of having to tell families a loved one has died.

“It’s a busy job. It’s nonstop,” he said. “There’s always something going on.”

Schiavone said he’ll continue overseeing the task force until a successor is named in a month or two. He said he’s confident his replacement will continue to have good cooperation with the coalition and the prevention and treatment community.

“I have worked all over the state and I can tell you, this community is not only steps ahead of others in this battle, but we are also constantly improving and serving as a model for many,” Schiavone said.

— Contact Evan Goodenow at egoodenow@winchesterstar.com