TEAM WORKS TO AID VICTIMS OF METH ABUSE

Salem's four-officer Drug Activity Response Team is an outfit
operating counter to every preconceived notion one might have about
narcotics officers.

There are no flashy suits, fast cars, search warrants, undercover
officers or elusive drug kingpins staying one step ahead of their efforts.

The DART officers wear standard police uniforms and spend their days
going door-to door in Salem, responding to drug house and drug
activity complaints.

They walk up and knock on doors and ask to be let in. Nine out of ten
times they are admitted inside without a warrant, said Deputy Chief
Steve Bellshaw, head of the department's investigations division.

And once inside, they set about the task they deem most important --
saving children and families.

The drug-using parents are arrested and given a chance to clean up.
The children are put in protective custody. And the neighborhood has
one less house hosting drug activity.

A large bulletin board along the team's office wall in the Salem
Police Department is covered with photos of dozens of children taken
from homes where methamphetamine use was rampant.

"We're hoping to break the cycle," said DART Officer Heather Day.
"God willing, we can get these kids safe so they can have a chance
and a future. Growing up seeing mom and dad hooked on meth, what
chance do they have?"

After two years of operation, DART has racked up an impressive set of
statistics:

- - More than 1,700 drug- activity complaints cleared.

- - More than 1,300 drug users and dealers arrested.

- - More than 750 children taken into protective custody.

The team's activities have made a huge difference in the community,
said Jessica Peterson, a protective service worker for the Oregon
Department of Human Services who works closely with local drug
investigation units.

"I don't think people understand DART is only four people," Peterson
said. "I think people think it's this huge organization, because they
have so much community contact. They're definitely successful at what they do."

Sam Skillern, the co-chair man of the Grant Neighborhood Association,
said the team's emphasis on street-level drug use has helped
neighbors of drug homes feel that their complaints are heard.

"It does two things," Skillern said. "It tells the neighborhood the
police are around and aware and are doing a good job. And when they
run into people who are doing the wrong thing and aren't discreet,
they are able to arrest them."

DART formed in October 2004, a few months after the Salem City
Council approved the creation of a four-officer team dedicated to
tackling the methamphetamine epidemic sweeping the city and the state.

Normal narcotics investigations involve busts in which large amounts
of drugs are seized -- "putting drugs on the table," in police
parlance, for the news media to report. These investigations target
dealers and suppliers.

"Our goal was to find out who they got the drugs from and go farther
up the line," said Officer Eric Moffitt, the only original member of
DART still with the unit.

But the team quickly found that focus on the drugs neglected the real
victims of meth abuse, the children living in squalor and the parents
held slaves to their addiction, Moffitt said. That focus also would
make little immediate headway in stemming the flood of
methamphetamine use, as such efforts usually take time to ramp up.

So within the first few weeks, they turned the usual methods on their
head. No more following the drugs. Any leads gathered would be passed
on to Salem detectives or the street crime unit.

Instead, they stayed focused on the home, working closely with
prosecutors and social workers to get children safe and parents help.

The DART officers respond almost solely to citizen complaints of drug
activity, going to homes where drug use is alleged.

The unit is built to move quickly. Waiting for a search warrant can
take hours, so they don't bother with them. They knock and ask to be
admitted and usually are.

Most homes -- 91 percent, by their numbers -- allow the DART officers
in, even with drugs and drug paraphernalia in plain view.

"Seeking a search warrant is a very time-consuming process," said
Deputy District Attorney Sarah Morris, who works closely with the
DART officers. "They way they do it, they might hit a dozen homes in
a day. Ten homes they might be able to clear the complaint as
unfounded, and on two they might need to work further and place the
kids in protective custody."

It is difficult work. The level of filth in some of the homes is
overwhelming, the floors littered with pet feces and garbage.
Officers report finding moldy milk in baby bottle, cockroaches
dropping from ceilings onto them, and odors they find hard to
describe. Their lungs and eyes burn.

"On one of our crime scene videos, you can hear me retching," Day
said. "We've all had the retching, and a few team members vomit."

Nearly 60 of the homes the team has investigated were declared a
health hazard or unfit for human habitation.

The team doesn't spend much time in court. Most of the people they
deal with plead guilty and seek treatment. Moffitt figures he's been
to court perhaps five times in the two years he's been with the team.

"Nobody wants to go into court and show everyone what they've been
doing to their children," Moffitt said.

Despite their constant efforts, the list of drug complaints rarely
grows shorter. Bellshaw remembered one typical day in which the team
cleared 11 cases, only to find that they had received 15 more while
they were out in the field.

"As great a job as these guys are doing, there are still more than
100 open cases," Bellshaw said.

The team has gained statewide prominence for their work. The Oregon
Narcotics Enforcement Association named Moffitt its officer of the
year in 2006 for his work with DART. Several Oregon police agencies
have examined how the team works, thinking about forming their own
such teams, Bellshaw said.

DART officers say despite the grueling nature of the work, they find
it immensely rewarding. People they've arrested come up to thank them
for getting their lives straight. Neighbors pat them on the back
after they've cleared out a meth house that's been a nuisance for months.

"This is the first time in my career I feel like I'm making a
difference," DART officer Jay Carney said.