ROBBERY RISK PERVADES POLICE DRUG DEALS

It seemed an ordinary transaction between two men who had been doing
business for about six months along the Georgia Avenue corridor in
Northwest Washington. As he had done many times, the undercover police
officer, Detective Mark Stone, pulled out a wad of bills and paid the drug
dealer for two ounces of crack.

Stone did not know it, but the outcome of this exchange inside his
government-issued Corvette was supposed to be different ­ and deadly. A gun
concealed in his waistband, the dealer was ready to carry out orders from
his bosses: Kill Stone and steal his money and his car. The execution was
ordered not because Stone had blown his cover, but for reasons that reflect
the ruthless motives of dealers.

"In their minds, they decided that they did not want to deal with me
anymore. They could deal with anybody. They said they had gotten enough
money from me and were now going to rob me and take me out," Stone said,
citing statements the dealer gave authorities after he was arrested in a
sting operation several years ago. The dealer told investigators that he
decided not to shoot Stone, thinking he could make some money by turning
him into a private customer.

The circumstances surrounding Stone's drug buy are similar to those that
led to the slaying Monday of undercover Maryland state trooper Edward M.
Toatley, a veteran of covert policing. After coming up with $3,000 in cash,
Toatley waited in a vehicle for the dealer to return with the drugs.

But the man came back and, without uttering a word, shot Toatley in the
head at point-blank range. Kofi Apea Orleans-Lindsay, a 23-year-old
Montgomery County man and a convicted drug dealer accused of violating
probation after his sentencing last year, has been charged and is the
target of an extensive manhunt.

Last night, D.C. police canvassed the local night-life scene for
information, handing out fliers touting a $100,000 reward, said Sgt. Joe
Gentile, a police spokesman. Also, the Fox television show "America's Most
Wanted" aired a segment about Toatley's slaying.

Current and former undercover investigators say robbery is an ever-present
peril to officers attempting to penetrate the drug trade. "In every group
of drug sellers, there are always people involved and dedicated to robbing,
whose whole gig is sticking up buyers," said D.C. police Sgt. Dale
Sutherland, who has made more than 1,000 undercover drug buys.

Sutherland said the risk of being robbed is greater when officers target
street sellers because so little is known about them. Although long-term
operations allow investigators to develop profiles of the dealers, risks
remain. Undercover officers in elaborate stings sometimes are so convincing
that they may face even more danger. Toatley, by all accounts, was just
that kind of officer.

"Once they [dealers] start to accept you into their world, you now face all
the risks of their world, such as robbery, accusations of being an
informant and ultimately of getting killed," Sutherland said. "If they are
concerned that you are police, generally they will just not deal with you."

That apparently was not the case with a 14-year-old member of a drug crew
who needed money to go to a nightclub and planned to kill Sutherland. The
teenager learned that Sutherland would be carrying $300 more because he
intended to buy more cocaine. A dealer, however, talked the teenager out of
it, telling him that Sutherland's business was too valuable.

In street busts aimed at apprehending dealers swiftly and in large numbers,
the greatest protection undercover operatives have is backup units. That
was evident three weeks ago, when armed thieves tried to rob two undercover
officers who were in a parked car on a street in Northwest Washington.
Gunshots were exchanged with the assailants before more than a dozen
officers stationed nearby arrived.

Police in the District are again going after dealers and buyers, a
deployment aimed at disrupting the more than 100 open-air drug markets in
the city. Since the end of September, about 300 people have been arrested
by the strike force, which includes about 80 officers, 15 of them working
undercover.

Police in Washington say making drug arrests has a broader aim than just
busting drug dealers.

"We use narcotics cases to close homicides. You might say to a dealer,
'Look, you are going to do 10 years. What do you know?' It is amazing what
a human being remembers when he or she is facing years in prison,"
Detective Shay Mattera said.

"One way or another, many homicides are tied to the drug trade, and drug
dealers are entrenched in the criminal environment. But you cannot do
narcotics cases without undercovers."

Law enforcement officials, while acknowledging the risks, say this kind of
policing is actually safer than regular police work. According to the
National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, 58 undercover officers have been
killed in the line of duty since 1928, although the actual figure is likely
higher due to incomplete reporting. Last year, the number of officers
killed while working undercover accounted for only a few of the 134
officers killed nationwide.

Undercover officers say their safety is foremost on their minds. They try
to retain a level of control by conducting business in a crowded venue,
where a dealer is less likely to act erratically. Attention to detail is
paramount.

"If I say that I have just come back from Texas, for example, my watch
better be set an hour or two behind the time here. There are a lot of
little things that you have to pay attention to," said one undercover D.C.
narcotics officer who requested anonymity.

Stone, a D.C. officer, said he likes dealers to be a little uncertain about
who he really is. "You want to keep a doubt in their mind. I have always
maintained a slight sense of mystery. The guy will not take a chance and
shoot a cop knowing that his backup might be right there. I want them to
feel comfortable but not comfortable enough to take me home."

Another D.C. undercover narcotics officer offered another perspective.
"Everything revolves around the comfort factor. You have to talk their
talk, and style and appearance are a big issue," he said. "It may take
three or four buys for them to feel comfortable enough with you. Then you
start getting their information, like phone numbers and pager numbers."

In ambitious counter-narcotics operations designed to foil drug rings,
informants are among an officer's most prized resources. These insiders are
often pressured by investigators into helping them in exchange for lenient
sentences.

"Informants are crucial, not only in getting you in this closed world, but
in helping you once you are in with respect to safety, finding out how
people are reacting to you and making sure no robbery is coming," said
another undercover officer. "You do integrity tests all the time, but there
is only so much that you can do to gauge the loyalty and truthfulness of a
snitch."

Undercover operatives study the mannerisms, moods and speech patters of
their targets, trying to determine if their own lives are in danger. But
establishing this with certainty is difficult. During Stone's Georgia
Avenue encounter, in which he was wearing a hidden wire, "There was no
signs of anger between us. . . .?I was talking and rapping with the guy
like usual."

People who have studied undercover work say the stress endured by officers,
logically, comes from the dangers they are routinely exposed to. But it is
also rooted in their double lives.

"There is a lot of cross pressure that these officers feel, and that is not
fully appreciated," said Clifford Karchmer of the Police Executive Research
Forum. "With all this play acting, they must have their wits about them. .
. .?You cannot start forgetting your lies. You are essentially living a lie."

Said Sutherland: "I have been introduced as a big business owner, a high
roller with Mercedes and gold jewelry and diamonds to a tradesman, a
laborer and a mechanic. I have spent most of my career talking about things
I know very little about."