INTERNET TIPS PROBED TO REDUCE DRUG TRAFFIC

Tempe police have developed an Internet program that allows residents
to be "esnitches" when it comes to narcotics activity in their community.

Tempe police narcotics Sgt. Bruce Girnt said that police were already
receiving between 35 and 75 calls per month from people filing
complaints about drug sales or use in their neighborhoods.

The complaints would then be referred to an investigator in a process
that "ate up a lot of time," Girnt said.

To save time and keep phone lines open for priority calls, police
created a Web site late last year that takes the information
electronically instead of using a telephone operator, Girnt said.

So far, the complaint form has proved to be a helpful aid to the
overall investigative process, Girnt said.

"It's like a quilt, you need every thread before you get a quilt," he
said. "It's like an intelligence database as well as an investigative
database."

The "narcotics activity report," accessed at www.tempe.gov/police/
narcoticform.htm on the Internet, allows the public to report the type
of drug activity, such as heavy traffic through a specific
neighborhood, and whether it's regarding cocaine, marijuana,
methamphetamine or heroin. Residents can also report whether they've
seen people use drugs, or cultivate or sell them.

Police do not take the information posted on the Web site as gospel,
Girnt said, adding that the tips are followed up by officers until
they can determine if there's a case.

In the event somebody gets mad at their neighbor and reports they're
cooking methamphetamine, "that doesn't mean the next day we=92re going
to kick down the door," Girnt said.

"We look at the totality of it, not just the initial complaint," he
said.

Web site users can remain anonymous, but one thing the Web site does
allow people to do -- if they're game enough =97 is to volunteer to
become directly involved in a narcotics investigation and even
introduce an undercover officer to suspected drug dealers, Girnt said.

"Some people are willing to do it," Girnt said. "They take a vested
interest in their neighborhood."

Residents can also continue using the Tempe Police Department's
telephone line for crimes occurring in the city by following the
recorded directions at (480) 350-####.