Pubdate: Sun, 03 Jun 2001
Source: Herald, The (CT)
Website: http://www.ctcentral.com/cgi-bin/w3com/start?ctcentral+TheHerald
Address: One Herald Square, New Britain, CT 06051
Contact:  2001, The Herald
Fax: (860) 225-2611
Author: Daniel K. Eisenbud

PD SETS DRUG POLICY

NEW BRITAIN -- In response to the heightened concerns of downtown merchants 
who have reported escalated drug sales by the intersection of West Main 
Street and Main Street in the last several weeks, police have undertaken an 
undercover investigation, which, they say, has yielded impressive results.

In a recent interview, Det. Michael Sullivan discussed the department's 
ongoing efforts to curtail the drug trade in that area, as well as the city 
at large.

"I believe we began receiving complaints in the (West Main and Main Street 
areas) two or three weeks ago from merchants and other people, and like all 
complaints they were forwarded to the vice squad and we began 
investigating," said Sullivan. "As of today (the department) has made seven 
arrests there, with several more pending."

Sullivan said the department utilizes undercover tactics, where detectives 
dress in street clothes and pose as buyers to make arrests -- a process he 
said which requires time and patience to achieve effective results.

"We arrange to have undercover purchases made from them so that we can get 
arrest warrants and charge them with those," he said. "Obviously you can't 
do that in one day. It takes a little time to make the buys - you need to 
identify who's selling there, you target them, get whatever evidence you 
need to charge them with, and arrest them.It doesn't happen overnight."

The drug dealers, said Sullivan, likely know each other and move throughout 
the city in patterns. He cited the Mt. Pleasant Housing project, Malikowski 
Circle, Broad Street, North Street and Oak Street as target areas.

"The dealers are city residents, it's not like one day they decided to move 
in downtown," he said. "They'll sell on North Street or Broad Street, we'll 
make arrests there, and whoever is left will vacate and move on. That's 
just the way the system works."

Addressing the concern of merchants who say there is a lack of uniformed 
officers regularly patrolling the area, Sullivan emphasized that more 
arrests are made using undercover officers. Indeed, despite two police 
units that patrol the area everyday, in full uniform, Sullivan said 
undercover officers have made the majority of arrests.

"They'll never see the police there because if a marked cruiser happens to 
be driving down the street when the undercover officers are present, the 
dealers will not sell to us," said Sullivan. "People will see police when 
these people are arrested, which has happened seven times already. And it 
going to happen again."

The drug of choice sold in the area is crack cocaine, which Sullivan said 
is distributed in small quantities. He added that it is important for 
downtown merchants to notify the vice squad to keep them appraised of drug 
activity.

"I'm not buying drugs, so the only way we find out is through the citizens 
and people in the area calling and notifying us where it's happening," he 
said. "We then look into it, target the people, and make the arrests. We 
make arrests all over the city - this problem is not limited to one 
particular area."

However, Sullivan said the drug dealing by city hall is a new development, 
which he said will be resolved quickly.

"It's beyond me why they have set up shop there," said Sullivan. "But we've 
already made seven arrests and they won't be there for long. The police are 
going to keep making arrests until the drug dealing stops there."

Sullivan requested any merchants or residents aware of ongoing drug 
activities call the Narcotics Enforcement Unit at (860) 826-3054.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens