POLICE AID KIDS ON MOTEL PATROL

As Reno police officers in the new downtown Motel Interdiction Team
searched a motel room for narcotics recently they couldn't help but notice
a 12-year-old girl.

While she sat on a bed trying to do her homework her mother was in the
corner, strung out on crack cocaine. The family was living in a meager
single-bed room littered with drug paraphernalia.

The girl said her school grades had gone from As to Fs because the steady
stream of people filing through the room kept her awake, said Sgt. Greg
Bellew, who supervises the new unit, initiated last month.

"This is what we're up against," he said. "We need to help her change her
life so we won't be dealing with her later in the criminal justice system."

The new MIT unit, an offshoot of the Reno police Downtown Enforcement Team,
focuses on ridding drug criminals from low-budget downtown motels. Its aim
also is to help children who live in these motels, considered homeless.

"It's going beyond the (drug) raid," said unit Officer Tim Mayes.

Kathleen Sandoval of Children's Cabinet in Reno said reaching out to
children living in motels is extremely difficult. Sandoval, FYI program
coordinator of the nonprofit children's organization, said MIT will make a
tremendous difference in the children's lives.

"This lifestyle has a long-term impact and is a continuous cycle of
repeated patterns if there's not some sort of intervention," she said. "The
one thing kids strive for is structure and stability. It's amazing when
youth get connected to a caring adult who helps them find direction, how
successful they become."

According to a January count of homeless in the area by the Reno Area
Alliance for the Homeless, there were 437 children living in Reno motels.

Sandoval said it's more likely these children will end up in the juvenile
justice system than children who have a stable family life.

Mayes said their mission is to help children "break the chain" of their
drug addicted parents by supplying them with clothes and shampoo and
tutoring. He said some children don't want to go to school because they are
too embarrassed they don't have clothes or toiletries. Various local
businesses and organizations donate the provisions.

Bellew said if parents are arrested -- like the 12-year-old's mother --
police work with the county's child protective services to remove the child
from the parent's custody until the matter can be worked out in family court.

The two-officer team -- Kevin Barnes and Mayes -- also helps needy children
found at the motels. Police stress that by specializing in this area,
officials are better able to identify underlying problems of the families
who need help.

"We aim all the city resources available their way," Bellew said. By the
summer, he said he hopes two more officers will be assigned to the unit.

Bellew said MIT focuses on about 35 motels in the core area of downtown
Reno. He said the unit also partners with the motels to teach them how to
detect drug activity.

Acting Police Chief Jim Weston said he hopes the unit's presence will
encourage them to comply with ordinances and to promote a good environment.

"But if that doesn't work, we will work to take their business license
away," he said.

The unit also regularly checks motel registries and runs warrant checks on
the guests. A warrant sweep on Feb. 17 resulted in the arrests of four
fugitives ranging from a 23-year-old woman to a 69-year-old man.

"Downtown Reno used to be different," Bellew said. "Motels used to have
tourists and now drug dealers move in, violent crimes follow. Innocent
people and children get caught in the crossfire."