2004 DRUG SEIZURES SET A RECORD FOR CITY

Area May Be Distribution Center, Police Say

Undercover drug detectives in the Winston-Salem Police Department
seized drugs and cash in 2004 far above amounts from previous years -
evidence that Winston-Salem may be a distribution point for drugs,
their commander said.

Detectives in the special-investigations division seized about 250
pounds of cocaine in 2004, and about 450 pounds of marijuana.

The division seized $1.6 million in drug-connected cash this year,
$1.3 million of which came from an investigation that lasted two years
and led to indictments of 11 people in U.S. District Court in July.

In that investigation, police searched 13 different locations and
collected money at several houses.

In another case, police in August seized 70 kilograms of cocaine - or
about 150 pounds - and arrested three people. It was the largest
cocaine-seizure in a case the Winston-Salem police initiated on its
own, and originated with a tip from a police agency in Texas.

Police Capt. David Clayton said that his detectives noticed this year
that large quantities of cocaine were coming to Winston-Salem from
Texas, California and the southwest, and large amounts of cash were
going back.

"It's very possible that Winston-Salem is a distribution center," he
said. "What I know is that we have made a number of arrests this year
of people who were bringing drugs to Winston-Salem in large amounts."

There's no way for police to estimate how much drug trafficking they
don't know about, he said.

"The whole idea is that you get the source of supply, and when you do
that, it doesn't spread all over Winston-Salem," Clayton said.

Detectives work undercover on such cases, and they don't like to
publicize their tactics, which sometimes include the use of
informants. The unit also tries to break up "open air" drug markets -
places where people buy and sell crack and other drugs outdoors and in
visible places.

The special-investigations division also sent two detectives to
California for training in methamphetamine production. Although
Winston-Salem has not had the problems with meth labs that rural
counties have seen, police said they want to keep it that way.

Winston-Salem police work with agents from the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration, Forsyth Municipal ABC Law Enforcement and
other agencies.

"That joint relationship has helped both of us tremendously in a
working relationship in seizures of drugs and cash," said Danny
Burton, the chief of ABC Law Enforcement in Forsyth County.

The danger of police work was illustrated early in the year, Clayton
said. Detectives in his division, who were trying to serve a search
warrant at a house on Olivet Church Road in Forsyth County on Jan. 2,
were confronted by the homeowner, who had a gun, and they shot and
injured him.

"They had to take action to save their own lives," Clayton said. "We
don't get any pleasure out of shooting somebody."