The Herald
Everett, June 4, 1997  Front Page

LUNCH SITS WELL WITH BUST FOR DRUGS

Police brass make downtown arrests
By Scott North, Herald Writer

Everett  The police chief had a bowl of soup. His secondin
command sampled the turkey sandwich.
	And the alleged drug traffickers that the top police 
administrators spotted plying their trade outside the downtown 
lunch counter?
	They wound up wearing handcuffs.
	The lunchtime arrests Monday near the bust stop at 
Hewitt and Hoyt avenues netted two suspects, five "rocks" of 
suspected crack cocaine and a chance to try out Everett's new 
law barring drug dealers from certain highcrime areas.
	Deputy Chief Patric Slack, who darted away from his 
meal and arrested the pair at gunpoint along with Lt. Jim 
Seaman, said one of the best things about the incident was that 
Police Chief Jim Scharf got stuck picking up the tab.
	"The chief got to buy lunch and the bad guys went to 
jail," Slack said.
	The suspects, 23 and 28, of Everett, were booked into 
the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of possession of 
illegal drugs with intent to deliver.
	If convicted, the pair likely will be the first people to face 
court orders requiring them to stay out of downtown and other 
parts of the city or risk another arrest, Everett police spokesman 
Elliott Woodall said.
	The areas recently designated as being "Protected 
Against Drug Trafficking" include downtown, north Broadway 
and south along Evergreen Way to the city limit.
	Those same areas also are covered by a similar 
program requiring convicted prostitutes and their patrons to 
"Stay Our Of Areas of Prostitution." So far, local judges have 
issued 'SOAP" orders to 49 women and 13 men.
	It is all part of an ongoing emphasis by Everett police to 
crack down on street crime, Woodall said.
	The emphasis is paying off, according to Slack.
	Both of the men arrested Monday have prior criminal 
histories. The 28yearold has more than a dozen arrests, plus 
four felony convictions for auto theft, burglary and drugs.
	Working with business people downtown, police earlier 
identified the 28yearold man as one of the people potentially 
selling drugs near the bus stop, Slack said.
	Coincidentally, the man showed up at the bus stop 
when Slack, Seaman and Scharf sat down for lunch across the 
street.
	Slack said the two suspects sat together on one of the 
bus stop benches. A few minutes later, he noticed furtive 
movements that led him and the other veteran officers at the 
table to believe a drug deal was in progress.
	"It's been 25 years since I worked narcotics," Slack 
said. "The dope has changed, but the activity hasn't. They were 
looking up and down and all around."
	The suspected drugs recovered during the arrests 
tested positive for cocaine using police field tests, Woodall said.