POLICE CRACKDOWNS MEAN BAD BUSINESS FOR DRUG MARKET

Legitimate businesses weren't the only ones that had a tough time
operating in 2009.

Dealers in the underground drug market also had a difficult year.

But rather than the struggling economy, it was stepped-up efforts by
the Calgary Police Service that caused headaches for those trying to
make a living selling illicit narcotics, especially at the street
level downtown.

Between March and May, the drug unit -- in partnership with several
other units and agencies -- launched one of their largest and
operations to date, Endeavour, which saw officers on the Downtown
Undercover Street Team (DUST) make small buys from hundreds of street
level and 'dial-a-dope' dealers throughout the core over a 10-week period.

That was followed by a four-day sweep resulting in 179 arrests and
the laying of more than 400 charges.

Of those, 89 have plead guilty.

"For the first four or five months after Endeavour ended, which was
the third week in May, you couldn't buy dope off the streets of
Calgary," said Staff Sgt. Darren Cave.

"That was the impression from our undercover officers and from the
one district uniformed beat guys in the core, you couldn't make a
drug deal if you wanted to."

A few months later, police conducted another sweep of the core,
Endeavour II, netting another 30 arrests.

And, Cave said they're still not done.

"What we learned from Endeavour was it's a great model," he said.

"It's in your face, straight forward policing.

"We won't walk away from it now, this is something that works at that
level and we'll revisit it."

It wasn't just the small-time dealers who felt the brunt of police
heat his year.

Several high-profile cocaine busts were reported throughout the year,
the largest being Operation High Noon, which saw 80 kg of cocaine
seized -- worth an estimated $8 million -- and 14 people arrested in
June following a year-long investigation.

All told, an estimated $87 million worth of marijuana and about $1.6
million in growing equipment were seized in Southern Alberta by the
Calgary Police and Green Team, said Cave.