City of Monrovia

Police to Host Prescription Drug "Take-Back"

MONROVIA - On October 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Monrovia Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.

Bring your medications for disposal to the Monrovia Community Center at 119 W. Palm Avenue, Monrovia CA 91016. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Last April, Americans turned in 376,593 pounds—188 tons—of prescription drugs at nearly 5,400 sites operated by the DEA and more than 3,000 state and local law enforcement partners.

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.

Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.

Four days after the first Take-Back event in September 2010, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them.

The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances. DEA has begun drafting regulations to implement the Act, a process that can take as long as 24 months. Until new regulations are in place, local law enforcement agencies like Monrovia Police Department and the DEA will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events.

Posted October 13, 2011

MONROVIA – Information currently circulating around town that specific neighborhoods are experiencing an increase in residential burglaries perpetrated by criminal street gangs is false.

Monrovia city officials recently received emails from residents alleging a presumed epidemic of burglaries in a specific region of the city. The rumors further highlighted that these crimes were being perpetrated by an organized band of roving street gang members.

Police officials said this information is not true.

In fact, residential burglaries in Monrovia and in the region have dropped in the past year, said Monrovia Police Capt. Alan Sanvictores. Though burglaries and crimes of opportunity may never be fully stamped out in a metropolitan community, residential burglaries that have occurred do not appear to be gang related or focused upon a specific area or neighborhood.

“Burglaries that have occurred in Monrovia, unfortunate though they are, show no signs or patterns of a specific area in Monrovia being targeted by a specific group of people,” Capt. Sanvictores said.

Over the past year, the Monrovia Police Department has made arrests for residential burglaries. Throughout the Monrovia Police Department’s investigative process, none of the apprehended suspects have been found to have any gang affiliations.

If residents see something suspicious in their neighborhood, they are encouraged to call 911, the Monrovia Police Department main line at (626)256-8000 or the mobile hotline at (626) 357-CELL (2355).

To find out whether any criminal activity has occurred in your neighborhood, view the police reports online at www.cityofmonrovia.org. These reports are updated weekly.