POLICE OFFICER CAN'T SEEM TO SHED UNDERCOVER CODE NAME

You Sure Have Started Somethin', Babyface Katrina Moulton's Work At
Northside High School Led To Drug Charges Against Nine Students.

The Babyface fame still has not died down.

More than a year after ending her undercover investigation as a student at
Northside High School, Roanoke County Officer Katrina Moulton, now a patrol
officer, still hears whispers of recognition and comments about her young
looks.

It happens almost daily.

"I'll hear, 'Oh, you're Babyface!'" Moulton laughed recently.

The Babyface moniker stuck after the 10-month-long Operation Babyface,
which placed Moulton at the Roanoke County high school to catch drug
dealers. The youthful-looking cop, then 24, was handpicked for the
operation by Chief Ray Lavinder after he saw her while she was going
through the police department's interview process.

Moulton posed as a 17-year-old junior but was often mistaken for someone
even younger.

The operation lasted from December 1999 through the end of the school term,
then through summer school. At the end, nine students were charged with
selling drugs. All pleaded guilty or no contest and were given sentences
ranging from probation to 10 months in jail.

Moulton, who's been on patrol since last fall, says she thinks she made a
difference.

That feeling is reaffirmed when she runs into both teen agers and adults,
whether at malls or at football games. Some suggest other schools for her
to "visit." Rarely does she hear negative comments.

"People say, 'That was a really good job you did,'" she said.

For the most part, Moulton's days are spent patrolling Roanoke County,
often near the Tanglewood and Clearbrook areas, sometimes in Vinton. While
still grateful for the opportunity to work undercover, the former Lynchburg
police officer said she realized how much she missed patrol work after the
operation ended. She says she likes working with people, helping people,
enforcing the law.

The past few months after the Sept. 11 attacks have brought new challenges.
She's gone through training on how to deal with anthrax scares. She knows
everyone is more on edge.

Still, it's hard to escape Babyface.

If people aren't recognizing her, they're commenting on her youthful
appearance. She's 26 now.

Near the end of the summer, while off-duty with her mom having lunch at
Famous Anthony's in Vinton, a waitress asked Moulton whether she was ready
to go back to school. She answered calmly, "I think I've had enough school."

Another woman asked her, "Do they let you arrest people or do you just ride
around?"

She doesn't let looking young matter.

"I just try to pull my own weight, answer my calls and do what I have to
do," she told a group of Roanoke Valley high school students while speaking
at a Family, Career and Community Leaders of America program recently.

Would she go undercover again? Maybe, she said, if the opportunity
presented itself. Last month, she went through an undercover training class
at the Roanoke Police Department and found it fascinating. But for now,
Moulton intends to just keep doing what she loves - being a cop.