POLICE DRUG BUSTS SWEEP IN $135K

A project set up late last year to clean up street crime in the city's
West End has so far netted police almost $135,000 in drug proceeds,
the project's head officer said yesterday.

Clean Sweep Insp. Boyd Campbell said in the past month officers seized
$4,500 in cash in drug money, bringing the total amount seized to
$121,872 since the enforcement project started last November.

Campbell said officers have also seized $8,547 in U.S. currency,
mostly connected to the street drug trade.

Police have also seized 55 cell phones, 21 during the month of
February, also believed connected to the drug trade.

Clean Sweep was created by Mayor Sam Katz and Police Chief Jack
Ewatski in the wake of the Oct. 10 fatal shooting of an innocent
17-year-old man in a gang shootout. Six officers from each of the
city's six patrol divisions were re-assigned to Clean Sweep, with the
rest from a downtown community police beat office. These officers are
in addition to the regular police enforcement in the West End.

Katz also gave police $800,000 for additional overtime with the police
service also earmarking $800,000.

Here are some other facts about Clean Sweep:

* Officers assigned to it are "non-dispatchable," meaning they're
arms-length from the main police communication centre, the place
through which all 911 calls are routed.

* Clean Sweep officers, most of the time, work free of being called to
investigate domestic disputes and other disturbances, which make up
the majority of calls.

* Clean Sweep officers work off tips and intelligence they gather on
their own, such as where gang members live and what vehicles they
drive.

* The work Clean Sweep officers do is on top of regular police
deployment in the area -- they are extra bodies assigned to the West
End patrol area. There are two shifts of Clean Sweep officers, putting
five two-man patrol cars on the road 20 hours a day seven days a week.

* While Clean Sweep is focused on crime in the West End, it is by no
means limited to it.