CHILDREN SUFFER WHEN PARENTS ARRESTED

Police say it's especially difficult when the person they arrest during a
drug raid is a parent.

"It's hard when there's kids involved, and we have to call Child Protective
Services," said Detective Brent Mandrel of the Santa Barbara Police
Department's Narcotics Unit. "Then we arrest their mom or dad, and they
don't understand.

"It's sad because the kids really suffer from it," Mandrell said.

Children, unfortunately, endure the worst of it -- the psychological, the
physical and the emotional pain.

But in the end, drug abuse really affects everyone.

"Even if you don't see it or even if you don't have family members
involved," Mandrell explained to participants of the department's Citizen
Police Academy during their sixth class last week.

Here's why:

The typical heroin addict consumes between $120 and $150 per day by either
snorting, injecting or smoking the illegal narcotic every four to six hours.
And this doesn't include rent, food or other expenses.

"The person who has this kind of habit can't hold a job," Mandrell said.
"They either go out and steal or sell drugs to support their habit.

"Residential burglary is on the decline because of three strikes, because it
counts as a strike," Mandrell said. "So they go to the stores and boost
(steal) and then sell the stuff on the street."

To cover the loss of stolen items, business owners raise the prices of VCRs,
computers and the like.

"So, drug abuse does affect us all," Mandrell pointed out. "And there is a
drug problem everywhere. It doesn't matter where you go. Santa Barbara is
not L.A., but we do have our drugs here."

The Narcotics Unit consists of 11 officers, including a sergeant, five
detectives and a K-9 unit. Members are also responsible for vice operations,
which include prostitution, gambling and murder-for-hire.

In relation to drugs, they arrest everyone from street dealers to major
suppliers and often employ the assistance of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.

A lot of leads come from informants on the street, but it's often not enough
to get a search warrant, Mandrell said.

"So we have to do our research and watch the place for a while," he said.
"But some of the best cases we've had have been from tips from people like
you. People call up and say, 'There's a house across the street that has a
lot of traffic and I suspect something is going on.'

"We may have already known about the dealer and that tip just got us enough
to get a search warrant because the call was made for the good of the
community," Mandrell said.

People who do call in tips are not named in any paperwork, Mandrell said,
adding that they encourage residents to call in any suspicious activity.

"Not too long ago, there was this little old lady who called in," Mandrell
said. "We asked her if she could jot down the license plate numbers, so she
just sat by her window all day with her binoculars jotting down numbers."

When detectives suspect there may be weapons at the house, the SWAT team
does the entry and serves the warrant.

"We do run into a lot of guns -- constantly," Mandrell said. "And you just
never know who is going to be in that house. The person you're going after
may not be violent, but there might be other dealers in there or a buyer who
is."

It's also not uncommon for six detectives to walk into a place where they
suddenly find themselves up against 30 to 40 people.

"We have the SWAT team go in so we can do things as safely as possible,"
Mandrell said. "I have a wife and children, and it's not worth it to me to
lose my life over some drug dealer."

Money, of course, is the main reason people risk jail time to sell drugs. A
kilogram, or about 35 ounces, of cocaine can be bought for $15,000 to $17,000.

Cocaine is most frequently sold in three quantities: Ounces, eight-balls or
grams. If the dealer sells the cocaine in ounce-sized packets, the profit is
about $9,500 per kilo. There's about 285 eight-balls, or 3.5 gram packages,
in a kilo, which can bring in a profit of $19,200. If the kilo is instead
divided and sold in smaller
1-gram packets, the profit would be $35,000.

Of course, selling smaller quantities also increases the chances of getting
caught.

"Some of our best seizures and asset forfeitures come from people who are
selling eight-balls or grams," Mandrell said.

When an arrest is made, detectives may seize autos, houses -- even cash --
by proving the items were either used in the drug sales or purchased with
profits from the drug sales.

If a federal agency was involved in the operation, it receives 20 percent of
the profits and the local agency working the case receives 80. If it's a
state case, 65 percent goes to the local agency with 15 percent of that 65
used specifically to combat drug abuse in the community. Ten percent goes to
the District Attorney's Office and the remaining 24 percent to the city's
general fund.

The Police Department may use profits from asset forfeiture to purchase
equipment, including guns and surveillance cars.

"We're not out there looking for assets," Mandrell said. "Our job is to get
the dope dealers. But if they have the assets, we take them."