cannabisnews.com: Police Going To Tape in Drug Crackdown





Police Going To Tape in Drug Crackdown
Posted by UaN on February 05, 1999 at 07:16:23 PT
Smile you're on Candid Camera
POLICE GOING TO TAPE IN DRUG CRACKDOWN    Chicago police on Tuesday were arresting drug suspects caught on videotape in three undercover operations as officials announced a new legal strategy being used to combat organized street sales. 
POLICE GOING TO TAPE IN DRUG CRACKDOWN    Chicago police on Tuesday were arresting drug suspects caught on videotape in three undercover operations as officials    announced a new legal strategy being used to combat organized street sales.    Instead of arresting individual sellers--who usually have small quantities of drugs and get probation or light sentences--the    Police Department and the Cook County state's attorney's office have begun to document entire street-selling operations,    planning to charge all of the participants.    Drug conspiracy convictions can mean prison sentences of 6 years or more, much stiffer terms than those imposed for    lesser drug offenses, according to State's Atty. Dick Devine.    Judges now will be able to see evidence, "especially videos," that "tell the real story," Devine said Tuesday at a news    conference on the West Side. The investigations will be "very difficult, sweat-equity kind of work," he added.    Each of the undercover investigations is expected to take at least 100 hours.    The first of the investigations, which included video surveillance and two months of undercover purchases, were    conducted in the 1000 block of North Avers Avenue, the 5000 and 5100 blocks of South Loomis Street and the 6800    block of South Winchester Avenue.    Police said those areas were targeted after being identified by local residents as chronic drug-dealing locations. The    investigations resulted in 47 arrest warrants , which led to 38 arrests by Tuesday morning.    "These drug operations often involve as many as 10 to 20 people," said Mayor Richard Daley, who also spoke at the    press conference. "Some of them deliver the drugs to the dealers. Some act as lookouts. Some direct traffic. Some    hand over the drugs to the buyers. Some take the money. Some pick up the money at the end of the day and take it    back to the gang."    Officials hope the new tactic "will wipe out the entire colony of drug dealers on a corner," Daley said. "It takes longer,    but we think it provides greater benefits in the long run."    Video clips of the initial investigations that were shown at the news conference depicted what appeared to be wide-open    drug sales being conducted in broad daylight, in some cases with school bus stops nearby.    The intensified enforcement is the result of a federal grant that permitted the city to hire 150 new officers, freeing up that    many experienced officers to focus on drugs, officials said.    Jay Miller, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said "there is no expectation of privacy on    the street" that would prevent the legal use of video cameras by police. 
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