EX-COP GETS 6 1/2 YEARS IN JAIL

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A former narcotics officer convicted of leaking
information to drug dealers about impending raids has been sentenced to
61/2 years in jail.

At a sentencing hearing Friday for Kenneth Spencer, 34, prosecutors said
the six-year veteran told his girlfriend about one 1998 raid that allowed
drug-gang members to hide their drugs and clear the area before police
swooped in.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Paw said that on another occasion, Spencer
accepted $2,800 from a drug dealer to reveal the identity of an undercover
officer, and also disclosed police surveillance routes and which dealers
were under investigation.

"He endangered each of these officers as they executed search warrants,"
Paw said.

Spencer's defense attorneys blamed his behavior on alcohol. "Drinking and
policing fit hand in glove and made Spencer feel included and important,"
the attorneys said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois.

Spencer, convicted of conspiracy and drug charges in 1999, has already
spent 30 months in prison and could be free in three years.