POLICE DRUG RAIDS TARGET STREET-LEVEL TRAFFICKERS

Lowertown Focus of Project Woody

A five-month Ottawa police project designed to "choke off" the
street-level trafficking of illicit drugs in Lowertown wrapped up
Tuesday with the arrest of half of the targeted suspects, police
said. In the past five months, 84 street traffickers were identified
through an investigation dubbed Project Woody, and they're to face
322 charges, police said.

"It's the residual crimes that we are also reducing. These 84
individuals are trafficking to potentially hundreds of people at the
street level and they have to get the money from somewhere," street
crime and break-and-enter unit Staff Sgt. Kal Ghadban said. "We
believe by choking this off, the actual supply, the demand will not
be so high."

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 30 Ottawa police officers arrested
20 people suspected of illicit drug activity in Lowertown, police said.

Another 22 people tied to the probe were in custody before Tuesday
morning's raids, Ghadban said. They were apprehended throughout the
five-month-long preliminary operation, he said.

A total of $68,000 worth of drugs and $9,500 in cash had been seized
as part of the investigation, police said.

Police also arrested another four people during Tuesday's raids who
were not identified during the investigation. One of them had 300
pills of ecstasy and one ounce of marijuana, police said. His vehicle
was also seized.

Ghadban said police did consider whether to release news of the raids
on Tuesday morning, but determined that the risk of wanted persons
finding out was low.

He said the unit had not anticipated making so many arrests Tuesday,
adding that previous street-crime operations netted fewer
apprehensions on raid day.

Const. Tim Renwick and Const. John Black, neighbourhood officers with
the central-west division, were part of the team sent out to round up
the suspects.

In the afternoon, they got lucky. They knocked on the door of a man
suspected of drug trafficking in the Lowertown area.

"They want to bring me in?" he asked the officers.

The man, who appeared to be in his 20s, was confused at first. He
told police he had never been caught drug trafficking. However,
Project Woody was an undercover operation, police said.

The man co-operated with police, but had one request before he was
handcuffed: "I just need socks."

The man went into his suite with the police trailing behind to make
sure he didn't grab a weapon, they said. He emerged from his
apartment into the hallway in handcuffs, wearing the socks he
requested and flip-flops.

The officers escorted him into the elevator, out of the building and
into a metal cage in the back of a van, which delivered him to the
Elgin Street police station.

Renwick and Black drove around the Lowertown area looking for their
targets, with a reporter and photographer trailing closely behind.

Armed with a booklet of photos and names of the targets, the officers
hopped out of the van when they spotted someone who might fit one of
the descriptions.

Some of the people they approached weren't intended targets and were
upset about being stopped by police.

"I'll just charge you with assault," one woman shouted outside of a
shelter. "I don't have to tell you nothing." The woman, who police
called a "regular," was later seen doing twirls and dancing down a
Lowertown street.

Without any luck walking the streets of Lowertown, the officers
decided to check out known addresses of wanted people.

On King Edward, a teenager let the officers into a building. Their
target was "out of town on business," said his roommate, whose
apartment was set up like a women's clothing shop. He had outfits
with price tags hung on the walls of his apartment and high heels
lined up on a shelf.

The officers left the building and went back to walking the street.

Warrants were to be issued for the arrests of all suspects who hadn't
been caught by the end of the day on Tuesday, police said.

All of those who were arrested are to be sent to court today. Ottawa
police will continue to monitor the charged individuals if they are
released to make sure they're complying with conditions set by the
judges, police said.

The goal of the project was to diminish the supply of drugs and
encourage people to make contact with addiction support agencies, a
police news release said.

Lowertown was the project's chosen target because of the large number
of people who frequent the area for its nightlife, tourist haunts and
more, police said.

Project Woody is the third major project conducted by the street
crime unit in the past year-and-half, including Project Crackdown in
May 2009 and Project Crackdown 2 in October 2009.

Founded in 2007, the street crime unit was originally a pilot project
by Chief Vern White to combat street drug problems in the downtown core.

The unit was made permanent in April 2009.