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Saugus Dad Finds Needles At Playground

SAUGUS (CBS/AP) - Saugus' police chief says he will increase patrols in the area of a playground where the father of a 3-year-old girl found discarded hypodermic syringes.

Joe Goldstein, an Essex County deputy sheriff, said that he was furious when he recently found two used syringes, including one with a broken needle tip, on the gravel in the play lot at Veterans Memorial Elementary School.

"Well, I started sweeping and I noticed right underneath the monkey bars one syringe. I waited to make sure the kids didn't touch it, and I noticed another one; one who had a needle in it, and one who had the tip of the needle broken off missing," said Goldstein.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports.

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Goldstein, who said he moved into the area in 2004, said the needles were in an area where it would have been easy for a child to step on them. He said about 50 kids, including his daughter, were playing in the area at the time.

Saugus town manager Andrew Bisignani said the town is aware of the problem and that they do their best on a regular basis to keep the play areas clean.

"We have a parks department, although our workforce is rather depleted at this time, but we have three individuals to police and maintain all of the parks throughout the community. Although, we have a regular program where we go by every week. We clean the tot lots, we empty the rubbish. We do whatever else is necessary," said Bisignani.

Police Chief Domenic Dimella said his department gets calls almost daily to deal with discarded syringes. He said the problem is being driven by cheap heroin.

(TM and © Copyright 2010 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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