Pubdate: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 Source: Sudbury Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2002 The Sudbury Star Contact: http://www.thesudburystar.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/608 Author: Rob O'Flanagan PROJECT DIGGER CRACKING DOWN ON LUCRATIVE DRUG TRADE Joint Force Out To Bust Sophisticated Drug Dealers Police forces in the Sudbury area will "go as far as it takes" to disrupt and curtail the local drug trade, Greater Sudbury Police Chief Alex McCauley warns. Organized crime runs the lucrative trade, McCauley said at a joint police forces press conference Tuesday. Drug dealers are more sophisticated and more dangerous than ever before, said the chief. But that won't deter the new joint forces team, known as Project Digger, in its efforts to intimidate, bust and prosecute drug dealers, producers and users, McCauley added. Drug enforcement officials from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ontario Provincial Police and Greater Sudbury Police announced the formation of the six-officer team Tuesday. The drug force will work together on a daily basis to share knowledge and best practices, more thoroughly investigate suspects and co-ordinate evidence gathering. The three forces will also commit human resources during arrests, some of which, McCauley indicated, could be high risk. Recognition of Sudbury's drug problem made the formation of the Joint Forces Team urgent, said Supt. Morris Elbers, the acting director of the OPP's drug enforcement section. Maintaining a consistent drug enforcement presence in the region is among the goals of the initiative - a goal that has been previously hampered by the restrictions of policing boundaries. "This will be very positive for the people of this area and will create a lot of problems for the criminals," said Insp. Marty VanDoren, the RCMP's deputy criminal investigations officer for Ontario Region, O Division. In an interview, VanDoren said the RCMP would bring its extensive knowledge of the international drug trade and a broader national perspective to the team. Creative, highly advanced policing is needed to keep drug dealers and producers on guard and off balance, he added. "They have become more aware of the police techniques that are used and have learned to respond to them," VanDoren said, explaining that drug trade insiders may avoid dealing over the phone because of the use of wiretaps, or have learned to evade certain surveillance practices. "The tools we used in the 90s may not work today," he said. "We have learned to be more creative." When asked if police investigators are as cunning as organized criminals, VanDoren pointed to a table that displayed some of the spoils from recent drug seizures. "We make seizures all the time," he said. "We won't stamp out the drug trade overnight, but we intend to keep the bad guys looking over their shoulders at all times." The city's police service and the OPP have worked successfully together on drug-related cases for the past seven months, pressing 215 drug charges, seizing an estimated $1 million in drugs and another $40,000 in property and currency. A portion of those seizures was on display during Tuesday's press conference. The drugs of choice in the Sudbury area - marijuana, Ecstasy, cocaine and hashish - along with bundles of cash, filled one end of the table. At the other end, an assortment of firearms - handguns and rifles - crowded the table. Unlike in the past, weapons have become a tool of the trade for dealers, police officials have recently said. Demand for drugs, recent reports suggest, is high in Sudbury. Asked whether the drug trade could ever be curtailed if the demand remains high, police officials admitted that it likely could not. But drug use is limited to a small minority of the population, McCauley said, and educational programs aimed at impressionable young people, coupled with the new, enhanced enforcement, will make a dent in the supply and demand for drugs. None of the officials at Tuesday's press conference would reveal details on how intelligence is gathered, or whether undercover officials are used to gather information within the drug trade. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh