DOWN AND DIRTY

The New Yorker for Feb. 1 has an article that will
appeal to aficionados of police movies and TV shows such as "NYPD
Blue." Called "Inside Dope," it's written by a New York cop
pseudonymously named Marcus Laffey who spends days and nights trying
to bust drug pushers and users. Laffey recalls crouching on tar
rooftops for hours, watching the street choreography of crack and
smack deals: "Sometimes you feel like the man on the catwalks over the
casino floor, scanning the tables for the sharps and card counters,
looking out for luck that's too good to be true. Other times, you
feel as if you were watching a nature program, some National
Geographic special on the felony ecology of the streets."

Laffey also reads the body language of addicts and sellers, which is
subtle and yet obvious to the trained eye. "The addict on a 'mission
walk' moves with double-quick footsteps, leaning forward, as if
against a strong wind, so as not to waste an extra second of his
already wasted life. A player, on the other hand, has a
self-contained watchfulness, a false repose, like a cat sunning itself
on a windowsill, eyes half-closed but ready to pounce."