CRACK CLAMPDOWN NETS 171 ARRESTS, $1-MILLION DRUG HAUL

A police clampdown on crack addicts is being credited for the
seizure of more than $1 million in illegal drugs and a big drop in
robberies in the downtown area.

Police Chief Brian Mullan said Project HALT successfully tested the
theory that crack users are responsible for most street-level crime.

The two-month initiative that ended Aug. 3 used "accumulated
intelligence" to target people known to be involved in street-level
trafficking and drug use, particularly in areas by crack houses, he said.

The surveillance effort, which included 20 officers from three
police stations as well as drug and break-and-enter squads, resulted
171 arrests and 363 charges.

During that time, variety store and gas bar robberies dropped by 33
and 58 per cent, respectively, while those targeting other
businesses also declined by 21 per cent, the chief said.

Overall robberies are down four per cent so far this year, he said.

"As we have always said, attack crack cocaine and it will drive down
spinoff drug-related activity," Chief Mullan told members of the
Hamilton Police Service Board. "This is bearing that hypothesis out."

Despite the focus on crack, marijuana compromised the majority of
the police haul, with 21 seizures accounting for $970,000 of the
$1.124-million total.

Police also seized nearly 1,000 grams of powder cocaine with a
street value of $100,000 and 385 grams of crack cocaine worth
$40,000, as well as 1,355 illegal pills and 9.7 grams of crystal
methamphetamine.

Seven illegal firearms were also confiscated, along with nearly
$86,000 in "proceeds of crime."

Chief Mullan acknowledged the clampdown didn't target the bigger
players who supply illegal drugs.

But he said police continue to cultivate informants and conduct
background investigations in the hopes of snagging the bigger drug dealers.

"They are, of course, the most difficult individuals to arrest.
They're layered," Chief Mullan said in an interview.

"This (clampdown) is mostly street-level traffickers and
street-level users," he said. "When you take a million dollars worth
of drugs off the street, it has to have a positive effect. When you
take seven firearms off the street, you have to have a positive effect.

"When you take repeat offenders off the street -- and those are the
individuals that have been previously arrested and are now being
held in custody without bail -- it has to have a positive effect in
regards to crime on many levels."

Police board chair Bernie Morelli said the clampdown is more
evidence that crack continues to be a major problem in Hamilton
despite the closure in March of the Sandbar Tavern, a downtown bar
that had been a notorious crack house.

While praising police efforts, he said he is concerned by the
appearance of crystal methamphetamine in the street-drug mix.

The highly addictive drug -- a clear crystal produced from
pseudoephedrine, a decongestant in cold remedies like Sudafed and
Triaminic -- has until now been most common in western, rural communities.

It creates an immediate but short-lived high when smoked and can
cause irreversible damage to brain cells and blood vessels. There
had been only two previous crystal methamphetamine arrests in Hamilton.