ANATOMY OF AN UNDERCOVER DRUG BUY

On The Beat With A Plain Clothes Narcotics Officer

Editor's note: The Record recently pulled a shift with North Wilkesboro
narcotics officer Lt. Tim Cheek. What we witnessed is part of an ongoing drug
investigation. Some details, such as the names of suspects and specific
locations of transactions have been omitted so that no cases will be
jeopardized.

From his upstairs office in the North Wilkesboro Police Department, Lt. Tim
Cheek looked through the window down onto Main Street as the sunlight faded.

Cheek, the head narcotics officers for the department, was playing his typical
nightly waiting game. Various tools of the trade cluttered the office.

A pump shotgun leaned against the wall, a computer and scales sat on the wooden
desk, plaques and awards hung on the wall. But, perhaps the most important
implement of all, Cheek's cell phone, laid on the edge of the desk. That phone
had rung several times over the course of the evening, but he was still
awaiting another call. When it came, further negations began, and then appeared
to fall through.

Cheek was trying to arrange an undercover drug buy. Crack cocaine was the
merchandise. The informant, who was helping arrange the deal, said the man with
the drugs was becoming reluctant. "I think he's getting spooked," Cheek said.
"We'll just have to wait and see." The back and forth calls regarding the deal
had begun earlier in the afternoon.

It was around 7 p.m., and still there was nothing definite.

There had been steady haggling over the location.

The phone rang again.

It was the informant, wanting to relay more information. Pressing the button to
end the call, Cheek sighed and said, "This is always the way it goes." Cheek
has been with the North Wilkesboro Police Department for 16 years. Trading the
uniform for jeans and T-shirts, he has been working as a narcotics officer for
two years.

And, he likes the work. "There's nothing like it," he said. "There's always a
rush when you make the buy. It's kind of addictive." The department has seen
success with this method of investigation. Several busts, stemming from
undercover operations, have been made over the past few months.

One of the most notable was the Aug. 22 arrest of a 14-year-old dealer. The
boy, an illegal Mexican immigrant, had been setting up drug deals for two men,
who were also arrested.

The youth went on to plead guilty to various drug charges and will remain in
juvenile custody until he is 18. "That's just a shame," Cheek said, referring
to the dealer's age. Cheek was in the forefront of that case. He and his fellow
North Wilkesboro police officers work with members of the Wilkesboro Police
Department and the Wilkes County Sheriff's Department. The cooperation is
paying off, he said. Undercover drug investigations are done on a routine basis
within law enforcement agencies throughout Wilkes.

"We have one officer dedicated to nothing but that," said Wilkes Sheriff Dane
Mastin. "This has been extremely successful." However, not every law
enforcement officer is suited for this kind of duty. "You have to have someone
who is trained, knows what they are doing and is willing to do that kind of
work," Mastin said. As for the hazards associated with undercover
investigations, Mastin said, "It all has it's potential for danger. When the
tools of your trade include a gun, you have to assume there is some danger.

Officers follow safety practices.

They make sure others know where they are at all times and keep themselves
covered." Cooperation is strong between Wilkes, state and federal agencies
regarding these investigations, Mastin added. "And the District Attorney's
office is supportive of our efforts.

North Wilkesboro Police Chief Randy Rhodes said that undercover drug
investigations are vital for the department's anti-drug campaign. "Our
department has been very active in the intervention of the drug trade, not only
here in town but in surrounding communities. We're very proud of what we have
done."

Rhodes added, "We've worked well with the Wilkesboro Police Department and the
Wilkes Sheriff's Department. It takes all of us to make a stronger team to try
to interrupt the drug trade." Wilkesboro Police Chief Gary Parsons said
undercover work is the only way to catch some drug dealers. "These have really
proven to be a successful avenue for dealing with drugs," Parsons said. He
recalled one undercover operation in the mid-1990s in the Wilkesboro
neighborhood known as "The Block," which netted 15 to 20 drug arrests.

Another similar operation, in which North Wilkesboro participated, took place
in the same area last year. But, such investigations are not "overnight"
ventures, Parsons said. "Some of them take months and even years." These probes
run the gamut of drugs, including cocaine, marijuana, prescription painkillers
and sedatives, heroin and LSD to name a few. Officers also try to stay on top
of new fads in the drug world.

Recently Cheek was researching the herb salvia, which is being used as a legal
marijuana substitute for some. There's several different ways in gathering
evidence to make drug arrests in the world of undercover investigations. Tape
recorders are used to capture dealers' voices while drug transactions take
place. Cheek played a recording of an undercover Wilkesboro officer talking to
dealer who was arrested last month.

Through the muffled sound of the car engine, the conversation between the
suspect and the officer could be heard - from the small talk to details of the
drug transaction. Another method of obtaining evidence is through surveillance.
During a recent operation in Maplewood Mobile Home Park, North Wilkesboro
officers hid in the nearby woods to see which home suspected dealers were going
to for the drugs.

Cheek has been in the woods, through creek beds and undergrowth to collect
information. But, officers are not always accompanied. On this particular
evening, Cheek worked alone.

As the auxiliary police met in a room down the dimly lit hallway, Cheek kept
his vigil by the phone.

Then, finally, the call came. The informant said the dealer had picked the
location - and come back down on the price.

Checking his .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol and his tiny voice recorder, he
was ready to go. When asked if he ever became scarred while doing his work,
Cheek laughed and said, "Yeah. Sometimes it can be downright nerve wracking."
Riding down the elevator to the basement level of the police department, Cheek
stepped out into a balmy summer evening.

He walked to a mid-sized car, got in and began driving to the designated spot -
the parking lot of a nearby business.

Once there, Cheek wheeled the car off the street.

The man walked from a vehicle to Cheek's driver-side window.

Through the open window, Cheek handed off the money, the man handed off the
cocaine. Not a word between the two was exchanged.

Officers term this sort of transaction a "hand-to-hand" drug buy. No arrest
came that evening. Cheek planned to cultivate a "business" relationship with
the dealer and perhaps identify others connected to the suspect.

Driving away from the store, Cheek radioed officers who had been put on standby
in case the deal went bad. "That's about as smooth as it goes," he said,
looking at the rocks of crack cocaine through the blue-tinted plastic wrapper.

Informants help law enforcement for various reasons.

Sometimes it's simply because they are tired of seeing drugs in their
neighborhood. Pleased with the drug buy he'd just made, Cheek headed back
inside the police department. His work for the evening was just beginning.
"There's a pot dealer who's wanting to do business," Cheek said. "I'm going to
try to catch up with him." And, it was back to his desk, waiting for the cell
phone to ring again.