DRUG BUST MONEY USED FOR ENFORCEMENT

Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series detailing
Gainesville Police Department's Comprehensive Drug Plan to rid city streets
of drug dealers.

The Gainesville Police Department is reaping the benefits of an
international drug bust operation from 1993 to 1997.

Money paid to the departments of participating officers is making it
possible for GPD to fight street-level drug use today.

GPD received $5 million from the Department of Justice about four months
ago, GPD spokesman Keith Kameg said.

Police Chief Norman Botsford earmarked $307,000 for a Comprehensive Drug Plan.

GPD was eligible for the money because officers Louis Acevedo, Julio Pomar
and Jeff Nordberg were assigned to a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
task force that helped break up Claude DuBoc's international drug-smuggling
ring, Acevedo said.

"DuBoc had organized crime and terrorist ties to organizations such as the
Irish Republican Army and Hell's Angels and to individuals who would supply
arms to terrorist organizations in the Middle East," Acevedo said.

DuBoc's organization had laundered hundreds of millions of dollars since
the mid-to-late 1980s, Acevedo said. It obtained the money by transporting
massive quantities of marijuana and hashish to the United States, said
Acevedo, the only one of the three officers still working at GPD.

Gainesville officers became involved when DuBoc smuggled large amounts of
drugs into North Florida, he said.

"The investigation led the local task force to Europe, Hong Kong, the
Bahamas, Canada and all over the continental United States," Acevedo said.

Acevedo said he posed undercover as a boat captain for a Colombia-based
drug organization.

"Eventually, DuBoc, who was a dual citizen of France and the United States,
was arrested overseas," Acevedo said.

The government confiscated $72 million in cash and assets, he said. GPD
already has received $5 million and is anticipating more.

Every organization that participated in the investigation is entitled to a
part of the money, he said.

Botsford said it took a long time to receive their portion of the money
because several properties in different countries had to be sold.

The Comprehensive Drug Plan, implemented in August, involves sending
officers out on the streets to catch drug buyers and sellers in the act
once or twice a week for the entire year, Kameg said.

Botsford said he decided to spend the money on this initiative because the
No. 1 complaint he receives from residents is the use of narcotics in
neighborhoods.

"It means we can do lots of things we wouldn't be able to do at no expense
to the citizens of Gainesville," he said.

Because the money came from drug dealers, it's only fair to use it to stop
the problem, Botsford said.

"We'd like to provide less opportunities for drug dealers," Botsford said.
"When we appear before neighborhood groups, we hope they will feel more
comfortable with their streets and sending kids out, knowing that there
aren't drug dealers on the corner."