BAD GUYS, BULLETS AND DOGS

Drug Cops Run Gauntlet In Raids

It was a drug raid that came close to going tragically wrong.

As armed narcotics officers got set to barge through the door of a
suspect's home in Spryfield, other officers peering through a window were
horrified to see a man inside levelling a rifle at the door.

Luckily the weapon jammed or wasn't loaded, and the trio of officers
scrambled through the window and quickly pounced on the man.

"Had the weapon discharged, the bullet would have gone through the door and
either killed or seriously injured the officers on the other side," Det.
Const. Perry Astephen of Halifax Regional Police said of the event about
three years ago.

Once inside, police found four or five other people and a Rottweiler.

"That's the problem with us," said RCMP Staff Sgt. Pete McTiernan, head of
the RCMP-regional police integrated drug unit.

"We go through a door and sometimes those inside are wired or stoned.

"You try to execute (raids) before they have time to react."

Staff Sgt. McTiernan said police are routinely finding firearms in drug
searches around metro Halifax. Many are stolen locally and include
sawed-off shotguns, sawed-off rifles, assault rifles, machine-guns,
handguns and lots of pellet guns, he said.

Knives, brass knuckles, pepper spray, Tasers, tire irons and baseball bats
are also common.

"Almost inevitably, when we go through a door, we know there is going to be
weapons of some sort inside," Staff Sgt. McTiernan said.

His comment is backed by court dockets that show more people than ever
before are facing weapons charges related to drug crimes.

At a recent sentencing in Halifax provincial court, a 26-year-old drug
dealer's request for a conditional sentence might have been granted had it
not been for the loaded handgun police found in his car and the 75 ecstasy
tablets on his person.

Instead of serving his time in the community, the man was handed a 15-month
jail term.

Judge Bill Digby hit him hard because he was worried about the growing
number of weapons in the hands of metro's drug traffickers and the
potentially lethal effects that ecstasy can have on users.

In September 1999, Edward James Britten, 23, of Port Hawkesbury died from
an ecstasy overdose while attending a rave at Exhibition Park outside Halifax.

Because ecstasy tabs aren't manufactured in legitimate labs, "it's anyone's
guess what goes into them," federal Crown attorney Mark Covan told the
court at the time.

"Users are literally playing Russian roulette with their lives.

"They have no idea what makes its way into the drug. It could be cocaine,
heroin or any number of concoctions put in by chemists.

"That's the nature of the drug we are dealing with."

The man Judge Digby sentenced had no adult criminal record.

"You're not being sentenced for who you are, but for what you have done,"
he told the man.

The young father had confessed to selling ecstasy for extra cash.

He told police the handgun was to fend off rival dealers.

Staff Sgt. McTiernan acknowledged most of the weapons are not intended to
be used against police but are protection against other predatory drug
dealers ripping them off.

"It's part and parcel of the drug trade," he said. "They don't trust each
other.

"A lot of these guys are not always sure who is coming through the door.

"If they know it's the police, it's not normally an issue because they know
we are not there to harm them."

But it can be a different story "if they think it's someone else coming in
to rip them off."

Staff Sgt. McTiernan said the emergency response team is brought in if
police know firearms are in a house or at a marijuana grow operation.

"A lot of times when we go through doors, we don't always know what is in
there and we find loaded firearms," he said.

Crack cocaine is the most popular drug being distributed in metro and it is
causing police the most concern, Staff Sgt. McTiernan said.

"It's a continuous battle but I believe we're having an impact," he said.
"We're hearing from dealers out there who are concerned about us coming to
search their residences or to look for them.

"They know their door could come down and they could be arrested at any time.

"They're wondering if they're next on the list."

But he said that for many dealers, going to jail is just a cost of doing
business.

"They understand there is going to be a time they probably will have to go
to jail and lose some product," he said.

Staff Sgt. McTiernan estimated that 80 per cent of all crime in metro
Halifax is drug-related - and he conceded that figure is probably conservative.

He said most robberies are committed by drug addicts and a lot of women are
committing petty thefts and prostituting themselves to support their habits.

Staff Sgt. McTiernan said police did about 125 drug searches in metro
Halifax last year and recovered about $5.5 million worth of narcotics.

He attributed the "pretty successful year" to a better exchange of
intelligence and having the RCMP and regional police working together in
one office.

Det. Const. Astephen, a veteran narcotics officer, said it's not uncommon
for an addict or even a trafficker to want to get out of the game.

"We talk to addicts in the city on a regular basis," he said. "They are out
on the street and we are also out on the street.

"For those wanting to get out, we try and send them in the right direction,
whether a job, a place to eat or sleep, as opposed to hanging out where the
product they are addicted to is right in front of them on a 24-hour basis."

Det. Const. Astephen takes a philosophical approach to his job.

"You can't look at what I do as gloom, doom and disaster," he said. "If we
didn't do 125 searches last year, how worse off would we be?

"We do what we can and charge as many people as we can. We try and help as
many addicts as we can. Get them off the street, and if more people step up
and take their place, then we keep going."