UNIT HITS STREETS TO PURGE DRUGS

Undercover Agents Work Together Covering Will, Grundy Counties

Tucked away in a small office building in an out-of-the-way part of Joliet,
narcotics agents spend their days setting up drug buys.

Their badges and guns, and many times listening devices, are hidden under
street clothes when they head out to bars and drug houses looking to score
everything from cocaine to ecstasy.

They follow up on tips they receive about drug shipments flowing through
Will and Grundy counties, destined for Chicago, and look for new trends in
drug usage.

They play the part of drug users and buyers long enough to build evidence
against known drug dealers. Then, with search warrants in hand and
uniformed police officers by their sides, they move in to make the bust.

These cops in drug dealers' clothes are part of the Metro Area Narcotics
Squad, a special unit of the Illinois State Police. Since its inception in
the early 1970s, MANS has made several thousand arrests and seized
thousands of pounds of drugs, according to Martin Shifflet, director of the
squad since April.

With three major interstates running through Will County -- 55, 57 and 80
- -- drug shipments coming from Texas and Florida into Chicago cross right
through the area, making the undercover unit a necessity, Shifflet said.

"The drugs come in from the South, and the money flows back from the
North," Shifflet said.

Last year alone, MANS agents seized more than 14,800 pounds of cannabis,
479 kilos of cocaine and various other drugs, with a combined street value
of more than $210 million.

One of the most recent large drug busts made by MANS happened in August,
when agents seized 4,300 pounds of cannabis from a truck making its way
from Texas to Chicago.

"It was mixed in with limes and watermelons," Shifflet said.

Another large bust happened in Harvey in November. Agents conducted a
search on a truck carrying propane tanks. With the help of the Joliet Fire
Department, they opened up five of the tanks and found 5,188 pounds of
cannabis and 477 kilos of cocaine with a combined street value of $160 million.

"I think it was one of the largest seizures from a truck tractor trailer
ever in the history of MANS," said Carl Anderson, deputy director of the
narcotics unit.

Communities in Will and Grundy counties provide the manpower and funds to
support MANS. Other funding comes from federal grant money from the U.S.
Department of Justice and from seizures of assets in drug busts the group
makes.

Special undercover narcotics units do not always last. Case in point: the
Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Cook County.

MEG served the county for 21 years, until July of last year when it
disbanded. The unit had fallen on hard times for 18 months prior to its
end. Once staffed by more than 50 officers from various suburbs, its
numbers dwindled to about half as many when all but 11 towns withdrew their
officers.

Cook County MEG was one of 23 such units across Illinois administered by
the state police. The others still remain.

The situation in Cook does not exist in Will and Grundy.

Only Bolingbrook has pulled its agent out of the unit, an action taken just
after the appointment of Shifflet as MANS director.

The decision appears to be political. For five years, Shifflet served as
Will County State's Attorney James Glasglow's chief investigator, and
participated in an investigation into Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar's
dealings as a member of the Illinois Toll Highway Authority Board.

No charges resulted from the investigation. Claar recently resigned from
the board.

Shifflet declined to discuss whether there was a connection between the
probe and Bolingbrook's decision to pull its agent.

"I was very sad to see Bolingbrook pull out of MANS," Shifflet said. "I
welcome the day when they put an agent back in MANS. They have produced
some of the finest agents in MANS' history."

Claar declined to discuss anything about MANS, referring questions to
Bolingbrook Police Chief Kenneth Each.

Each said the decision was tactical, not political.

"We had to reevaluate our situation," Each said. "We felt it was in our
best interest to strike out a little differently. It doesn't mean we're not
going to cooperate with the agency.

"We're growing, and we have to focus on the needs right here."

Joliet, Lockport and Morris continue to contribute officers to the unit, as
does the Will and Grundy counties sheriff's departments and the Illinois
State Police.

Joliet Police Chief David Gerdes said his department has had an officer in
MANS since it began. It offers officers experience in advance undercover
techniques and gives his department the opportunity to have several
officers working in different drug-fighting operations, Gerdes said.

No animosity appears to exist from the various departments about MANS
agents stealing the big drug busts.

"If we can get a couple of bad guys off the street, we don't care who does
it," Gerdes said.

There also is a good exchange of information between MANS and the different
agencies and departments, Gerdes said.

The agents rotate through the unit for periods of two to three years.

"I'm a pretty firm believer -- three years is about as long as an officer
should spend undercover," Gerdes said. "I think after three years, the
officer needs to come back and get re-acquainted with the department."

Also, when a police officer spends too much time working undercover, it can
be tough on his family because of the long hours, he said.

While an important aspect of MANS is cracking down on the drugs coming
through Will and Grundy, the squad also focuses on trends in drug use.

Two of the drugs Shifflet is worried about are ecstasy, which comes in the
form of a pill and produces a high-level euphoria, and methamphetamine, a
potent form of speed.

The latter is dangerous because it's so addictive and because manufacturing
it can cause explosions. It's not uncommon to hear about home-based
methamphetamine labs exploding, he said.

Methamphetamine, or so-called crystal meth, is popular in areas of Missouri
and southern Illinois, and Shifflet worries it is on its way to the Chicago
area. He said he fears when the drug does come to the region, addictions
could rise to epidemic proportions.

"Without a MEG unit or task force ... paying attention to street-level drug
dealers, it's going to flourish," Shifflet said.

He said the agency's main objective will continue to be arresting
street-level drug dealers and detouring narcotics trafficking away from
Will and Grundy counties.

Anderson, MANS' deputy director, has a clear understanding of the agency's
mission.

"Our job is to arrest the bad guys, seize their dope and seize their
assets," he said.