Pubdate: Mon, 07 Sep 2009
Source: Raynham Call (MA)
Copyright: 2009 GateHouse Media, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wickedlocal.com/raynham
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4885
Author: Tim Faulkner

WIRETAPPING KEY TO DRUG ENFORCEMENT

Raynham Police Chief Louis Pacheco has long been an advocate of using 
technology to combat crime. His office at the Orchard Street police 
station is multimedia command center, lined with large flat-screen 
video monitors and computer terminals showing schools playgrounds and 
Raynham's busy commercial roadway.

It's an approach to law enforcement that is getting a lot of attention.

Recently he attended a press conference in New Bedford to lend his 
support for the use of electronic surveillance during investigations 
of big-time drug dealers.

The event highlighted the pivotal role a wiretap played in a major 
New Bedford drug bust that netted 200 grams of cocaine, $50,000 cash, 
several vehicles, homes, 24 weapons and two dozen drug-related 
suspects, including three high-level drug dealers from the Fall River 
and New Bedford area.

Code-named Operation Lightning, the investigation was led by Bristol 
County District Attorney Samuel Sutter and included Lakeville and 
Dartmouth police as well as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
Office of Investigations in Boston.

The bust was the direct result of a crime-fighting tool that Pacheco 
and Sutter agree is crucial to infiltrating drug networks that rely 
on sophisticated technology like smart phones and other high-tech equipment.

The practice of using wiretaps, however, fell out favor during the 
16-year tenure of former Bristol County DA Paul Walsh.

"It was a major issue during (Sutter's) 2006 campaign," said Sutter's 
spokesman Gregg Miliote. "He sounded the alarm that this is the 
proactive way to go after drug offenders."

And it was a tool cops like Pacheco wanted to have back in their 
hands. "As a result (Sam Sutter) has had some very successful cases," 
Pacheco said.

The Raynham police chief, Miliote said, is known across the state, 
and even internationally, for his expertise in combining technology 
with police work.

To combat 21st century criminals, Pacheco said electronics should be 
used like they were in the 1970s to break up organized crime syndicates.

"I believe the wiretap is going to become very important because it's 
the central nervous system of any type of drug network investigation," he said.

Drug dealing operations follow a cycle of distribution, organized 
networks, money and violence, Pacheco said.

"The only way to get into the loop is with computer and 
interception," he said. "Going forward it's going to be imperative 
that law enforcement use digital tools," he said.

Miliote said the last week's investigation got its big break when a 
court-approved wiretap picked up a conversation that lead police to 
observe a transaction between a major drug supplier and a dealer 
parked on a darkened road in Dartmouth.

It was Sutter's second biggest drug sting.

In 2007, he launched an eight-month wiretap investigation that 
resulted in 25 arrests in New Bedford, Dartmouth and Fairhaven. 
Authorities raided five residences and seized large amounts of 
cocaine and marijuana.

The use of electronic surveillance allows law enforcement to stop 
crime as it happens, rather than solve them later, Miliote said. 
Sutter runs "a crime fighting office," he said that does not sit back 
and wait for crime to happen. "We'll use any practical measure to go 
after the worst criminals in Bristol County."

Earlier this month, Sutter stood beside state Attorney General Martha 
Coakley during a press conference to unveil her bill to expand 
electronic surveillance and to toughen laws and sentences to combat 
organized crime, street gangs and other illegal operations.

"The state needs to have the same ability as the federal government 
to crack down on large scale criminal enterprises," Miliote said.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart