CALGARY HOPING TO STICK IT TO DRUG DEALERS

Drug dealers and miscreants be warned: Using a pay phone to conduct
illegal business in the city could see you and your contacts get busted.

As part of what Ald. John Mar is calling Operation Sentinel, city
workers are putting stickers on pay phones around the city warning
that the phone's records can and will be subpoenaed by police and
prosecutors if anyone is caught using it to break the law.

"It's to take away the anonymity," said Mar. "Whoever you call, if
you're trying to use it for an illegitimate use, we can track it and
we can forward that information on to the proper authorities."

Mar got the idea last year during a trip to San Francisco.

"I came across a phone booth there that had a sticker on it from the
police telling people the information, the telephone numbers (called)
and dates and times and these types of things can be forwarded to the
authorities," he said.

Workers will put the stickers on 30 pay phones to start, said Mar, and
the program will expand as needed.

"We want to target that particular tool and take it away from them,"
said Mar.

"We'll know who they're phoning and we'll be able to take the
appropriate steps from an enforcement perspective."

The use of pay phones by drug dealers and other ne'er-do-wells, said
Mar, is rampant in Calgary.

Those concerned about someone eavesdropping on their calls needn't
worry, said Telus spokesman Chris Gerritsen.

"Public phones are just that, for the public and they need to be
accessible to everybody and you need to feel safe while you're using a
pay phone," he said.