Madison robberies spiked in September to the highest monthly level in two years - 45 - fueled in part by what police are calling a heroin problem that has grown to epidemic proportions.

"It's big," said Madison Police Lt. Mary Lou Ricksecker, a member of the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force. "We consider it ... epidemic."

"I couldn't agree more," said Michael Florek, president of Tellurian drug treatment center. "I've never seen anything like this."

Over the last two to three years, Florek said, the number of calls he gets about opiates or heroin has gone from two or three a week, to between 15 and 20.

"Lately it's been parents calling about their kids - young, privileged kids who see opiates and eventually heroin as a party drug," Florek said.

Instead of going to a party and smoking marijuana, he said, young people are taking opiates, such as Vicodin, out of medicine cabinets, and eventually going on to buy heroin on the street.

"They wake up one morning and they're a junkie," Florek said, adding, "I'm hearing on a weekly basis from somebody I admit that they have a friend who died" from heroin.

The number of heroin overdoses known to police this year is greater than each of the last two years, Ricksecker said, adding that police also are seeing many more young adults and children addicted to heroin.

"It's much more readily available and it's highly addictive," she said.

To pay for their habit, Ricksecker said, addicts start stealing from family members, then venture out into the community, robbing stores and businesses.

Overall, the number of robberies and other crimes, except for thefts, is down compared to last year, DeSpain said.

The police department will release its third-quarter crime statistics today.

Monthly robberies in Madison usually number in the high 20s or low 30s, DeSpain said, adding that police believe the recent spike is linked in part to the heroin problem.

On Oct. 7, a Madison officer shot and killed an alleged armed robber who police said was known to use heroin.

Police believe Gregory J. Bickford, 26, of Sun Prairie, robbed Cousins Subs, 1124 S. Park St., at gunpoint moments before he pulled out a long-barreled handgun and pointed it inches from the face of an officer who had stopped him on a residential street a few blocks away from where the robbery took place.

Luke L. Whitehead, 22, of Madison, is being held in Dane County jail on $10,500 bail after being charged last month with three area armed robberies, including one at the Subway at 2850 University Ave. in Shorewood Hills on Oct. 7, about two hours before Bickford was killed. According to criminal complaints, Whitehead told police he had a $50-a-day heroin habit.

Whitehead also is charged with armed robberies of the Domino's Pizza at 409 W. Gorham St. on Sept. 26 and the PDQ Gas Station at 2002 Parmenter St. in Middleton on Oct. 6.