SCHELL, POLICE CHIEF WITNESS STING OPERATION

Yesterday started off badly for three men arrested in connection with
a crack cocaine sting in Pioneer Square.

First, two of them allegedly offered to help a customer -- an
undercover police officer -- buy $40 worth of cocaine from a dealer
prowling the neighborhood in a sleek black Cadillac.

Then the dealer reportedly made the sale, trading .04 grams of crack
for the officer's marked bills.

When the trio were arrested by uniformed cops near Third Avenue and
Yesler Way shortly after 7:30 a.m., two high-ranking city officials
were watching.

Mayor Paul Schell and Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske sat in an unmarked
car as officers handcuffed the dealer -- a 27-year-old Bothell man on
probation with a lengthy record for drug dealing and robbery.

Police also arrested his 40-something accomplices -- one from
Shoreline, the other from Seattle -- for playing the role of "clucks,"
go-betweens in street dealing.

Together, the men have nearly a dozen misdemeanor and felony arrests
between them, ranging from assaults to DUIs, police said.

The arrests yesterday are the latest in the city's effort to stem
street drug crimes that fester in alleys, parks, cars and sidewalks
from Belltown to the International District.

Since January, police have made 1,103 felony drug arrests, recovered
$47,598 in cash and seized more than 1,400 grams of heroin and cocaine
in "buy bust" operations like the one Schell and Kerlikowske witnessed.

Like the Cadillac driver booked yesterday into the King County Jail,
two-thirds of those arrested this year have prior arrests for drugs.

Shortly after the sunrise police sting, Schell and Kerlikowske sat
down with reporters at a Pike Place Market coffeehouse to decry a
system that returns habitual drug dealers to city streets.

"The war on drugs in many ways has been a failure," Schell said while
sipping a latte. "We need to be tough on the dealers, be more
thoughtful about how we deal with the addicts and . . . try to prevent
(drug use) totally through education."

"The recidivism rate is so high," said Kerlikowske. "People are back
on the street in 24 to 48 hours after they're arrested. . . . There's
lots of frustration from the police and the city."

Schell said he supports spending more on Drug Court and other programs
aimed at tackling the root of the problem -- addiction.

"Right now, we're asking police to be counselors, deal with drug
addiction and deal with homelessness. That's too much," he said.