BUDGET HIKE ADDS 13 DRUG UNIT COPS

Reinforcements Will Combat Grow Ops, Crack

The drug problem in Calgary isn't going away, but community leaders
say the addition of 13 investigators to the city police narcotics
squad is making a difference in some long-suffering
neighbourhoods.

"I'm just absolutely thrilled. (Police) have been much more active and
that's been welcomed by the community," said Ald. Madeleine King, a
police commission member whose ward sees its share of street-level
drug trade.

"Overall, there's been a deterioration and there's still a lot of work
to be done."

Tips about marijuana grow ops are pouring in faster than police can
get to them and crack cocaine use has exploded in recent years, but a
lead investigator said the reinforcements will help combat what police
view as the two biggest drug problems.

"It's an exciting time," said Staff Sgt. Kevan Stuart, a 17-year
police veteran on his third stint in the Calgary police drug unit.

"We're better suited now to address the needs of Calgary and the
surrounding area."

And the needs are showing no signs of letting up: police seized a
record $101 million in marijuana last year, compared with $9 million
in 2000.

Even so, Stuart estimated police were able to investigate only 60 per
cent of grow op tips supplied by the public.

"This will give us a greater capacity to act on the information in a
timely way," he said of the new investigators.

A $6-million budget increase from the city and new provincial money
earmarked for fighting organized crime allowed Calgary police to
create the new positions.

Many new investigators are already on the job, and Stuart said he
hopes all the positions will be filled by the fall.

Like marijuana, crack cocaine use has only increased, progressing from
a relatively new phenomenon a few years ago to "the street drug of
choice," said Stuart.

In 2000, the $94,223 in crack seized by police accounted for about
one-quarter of the total amount of cocaine taken off the streets, the
remainder being powdered cocaine.

By last year, 60 per cent of the $473,599 in cocaine seized by police
was crack, which comes in rock form and is smoked for a more intense
high.

Front-line police officers are also encountering the drug more often,
recording 562 crack-related incidents in 2004, compared with 150 in
2000.

It's a statistic all too familiar to Art Sheeler, a 35-year Forest
Lawn resident who has been a vocal critic of the twin scourges of
drugs and prostitution in his neighbourhood.

But Sheeler said the added drug investigators, along with renewed
efforts by police in the District 4 office, have made a big difference.

"We still have problems, but all in all, it's making it a whole lot
nicer to walk the streets around here," Sheeler said.

Since March, police have executed 27 drug warrants in the area, laying
300 charges against 83 suspects.

The latest bust came Tuesday, when police raided a home in the 1700
block of 34th Street S.E., seized 15 grams of crack and charged two
women with drug-related offences.