Pubdate: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2005, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://torontosun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457 Author: Rob Lamberti, staff writer DRUG SWEEP DEFUSES 53 Cops Collar St. Jamestown Street Dealers, Suppliers A street-level drug sweep by Toronto Police netted 53 people on 180 charges in the St. Jamestown area. Project Defuse, launched in September, targeted dealers on the street and followed them to their immediate suppliers, said drug squad Det.-Sgt. Larry Cowley. Among those arrested yesterday was a man who had dislocated a Toronto cop's shoulder in a 1994 crack sweep in Parkdale after he pulled a knife during a violent arrest. Another man was arrested after he tried to rip off an undercover officer who had backed out of a deal, Cowley said. Other suspects had been arrested for selling bogus crack to undercover officers. "Basically, because of the violence in the 51 Division area ... there was an escalating concern about the street-level activity," Cowley said. Tipping Off Officers He said the community had been tipping off investigators about the illicit trade in the area bounded by Bloor and Wellesley Sts. and Sherbourne and Parliament Sts. Cowley said the plan was to first arrest street-level dealers. Then, when their replacements showed up, they were arrested as well. Detectives also tried to follow the dealers to identify those who supplied them. A number of the arrested dealers don't live in the neighbourhoods they're trafficking in, he said. "They were going into people's neighbourhoods, they're plying their crack cocaine trade," he said. Cowley said the trafficking "brings a neighbourhood down. "People who use drugs, often times prostitution involved, or they commit thefts and robberies and break-and-enters into homes to supply their habits. "It has a mushrooming effect," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin