COPS TRUMPET LARGE DRUG BUST

Four San Antonio police officers working on a routine call on the city's
East Side ended up making one of the largest crack cocaine seizures in San
Antonio's history, authorities said Tuesday.

The officers confiscated about 25 pounds of crack with a street value of
more than $1 million, along with about $75,000 in cash from a house on the
East Side, police said.

Officers John Lohrke, Harold Schott, Joseph Combs and Boyd Littlefield were
answering an unrelated call shortly before noon when they received
information that led them to a house in the 300 block of Como Street.

Police Capt. Ron Bruner said the officers met with two women at that
address. One of the women gave officers the consent to search the home,
police said. Inside a bedroom, police said they found black bags containing
the drugs and cash. Police also confiscated a 28-gauge shotgun they found
in the room.

The two women were later arrested and were expected to be charged with
felony drug possession.

Several hours after the incident, officials displayed their seized booty in
front of reporters as the four officers who were credited in the bust stood
by and beamed.

All four officers work street patrol out of the San Antonio Police
Department's East Side Substation.

"I was completely shocked," Littlefield said. "I've never seen that much in
my life."

On the table there were large pies of crack cocaine, some broken up and
wrapped in plastic bags.

It took about a half-dozen officers and several hours to hand-count the
large amount of cash.

Investigators said the amount of crack seized could have been broken into
approximately 60,000 rocks priced at about $20 each.

While a drug raid conducted by city, state and federal agents last year
yielded about 50 pounds of cocaine, believed to be the largest such seizure
in San Antonio history, authorities said Tuesday's incident was possibly
the largest of crack cocaine handled solely by the Police Department.

Although considerably reduced since the 1980s, records show that crack
cocaine use has nevertheless remained steady in recent years.

According to a study released last year by the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, the number of cocaine-related deaths (crack included)
in San Antonio jumped 150 percent from 1998 to 1999 -- the most recent year
tracked by the study. Overall, 97 drug-abuse deaths were reported in 1998
and 241 in 1999, a 148 percent increase.

Officials said Tuesday's seizure indicates the continued prevalence of
crack cocaine. They added that the bust likely will have an immediate
effect on drug trafficking here.

"In my 30 years of service, I've never seen this much in one place. In
fact, I think many officers don't see this much in their entire career,"
Schott said. "There's going to be a lot of dry wells around town."