LIFE IN MEAN STREETS HOTELS AN EYE-OPENER FOR VETERAN OFFICER

Even with 10 years service as a Vancouver police officer, "Rebecca"
was shocked by the amount of crime she saw in the Downtown Eastside.

For the past 10 weeks, the constable posed as a drug addict and lived
in three hotels in the Downtown Eastside. Her real name is not being
revealed because of her work as an undercover cop.

She couldn't believe the condition of the hotels.

"They were disgustingly dirty and I was just shocked at the amount of
crime from top management right on down to the desk clerk to the
majority of the people living in the hotels," said Rebecca, whose legs
are still scarred with bedbug bites.

She worked with other undercover officers in a project that targeted
the Lucky Lodge at 134 Powell St., the Gastown Hotel at 110 Water St.
and the Astoria Hotel at 769 East Hastings.

Dubbed Project Haven, the project uncovered rampant drug dealing,
welfare fraud and the buying and selling of stolen property, police
said. At a news conference Monday, police said owners, managers or
desk clerks were complicit in the crimes.

Rebecca said she and other officers bought all types of drugs and were
given detailed "shopping lists" of goods to steal by owners and drug
dealers. In return for the "stolen property," which the police bought
through a retail supplier to pass off as stolen goods, the undercover
officers would receive money or drugs.

They were told some of the stolen property would be used as Christmas
gifts for friends of the owners and dealers.

Her participation in the underworld was almost immediate, although
some of the people she met were suspicious of her presence at the hotels.

"They'll ask a few questions but what it comes down to is, 'What can
you do for me?' Greed. You didn't even have to go looking for the
people. One person came to us at the beginning and said he was the
main rock dealer in the building. They're their own little community
there, and once you kind of make some friends, people come to you and
they ask you to either steal stuff for them or sell stuff for them or
to sell you drugs."

Playing the role of a drug addict was a challenge, she
added.

"It starts right from getting dressed in clothes that we hadn't washed
for two months and just trying to get into that role at the beginning
was very difficult because... you're not totally sure what to expect
in the hotel. It's kind of hard to pretend to be someone that you're
not. So that part at the beginning was quite difficult to me."

Living in hotels where there were known criminals was also on her
mind.

"We know that some people in there have records a mile long. We know
that there's weapons in there, guns and stuff. So you never know who
you're dealing with at the time-whether they're going to go nuts on
cocaine or something. We dealt with a few people who were pretty high."

Project Haven is part of the police's continued crackdown on problem
hotels and businesses in the Downtown Eastside. Last year, police
conducted projects Raven and Lucille which targeted pubs, pawn shops
and second hand dealers.

Both projects accounted for more than 70 criminal charges.