Each precinct in the Seattle Police Department has an Anti-Crime Team. Late last year, they allowed a SeattlePI.com reporter and photographer to ride along with the North Precinct team for three nights.
Video of the SPD Anti-Crime Team shot and produced by Josh Trujillo.
On one night, the ACT Team came to Ballard, “The Ballard operation was the culmination of weeks of investigation into a suspected cocaine dealer,” Casey McNerthney writes in his piece. After meeting up with the drug dealer, who has since pleaded guilty of the crime, nine small packs of cocaine weighing 17.8 grams were found in a nearby flower garden, McNerthney writes, which police say has a street value of about $1,780.
In the guilty plea, the Seattlepi.com reports that suspect Oscar Mejia-Cruz wrote, “I unlawfully and feloniously possessed cocaine, a controlled substance and narcotic drug, with intent to deliver the cocaine to another person. I knew that cocaine is a controlled substance.”
33 reader comments so far ↓
1 onederfullone // Mar 8, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Thank you SPD, keep up the good work.
2 ynh98107 // Mar 8, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Hurray!
3 bill // Mar 8, 2010 at 6:25 pm
How else are we supposed to buy our cocaine?
4 Name // Mar 8, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Hey – I am so happy to know that something is being done. Now, can they do something about the one in my building?
5 RudyT // Mar 8, 2010 at 6:28 pm
I like this very much.
6 onederfullone // Mar 8, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Well, if you don't report what you believe is occurring….no, they probably won't.
7 Garbahound // Mar 8, 2010 at 7:14 pm
From the next one that pops up in 2 days. :P
8 cobaltblue // Mar 8, 2010 at 7:58 pm
So that's who those Men In Black were that we saw at the local drug dean last year! Great job, guys. Now come back to East Ballard and finish up!
9 burgin22 // Mar 8, 2010 at 8:01 pm
The officers even say this in the video: These aren't bad people, just ones that made bad decisions and who are addicted to an (illegal) substance.
Why treat this medical problem as if it were a criminal one?
10 Garbahound // Mar 8, 2010 at 8:12 pm
…because Prohibition worked so well!
11 Stupid Hippie // Mar 8, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Yes!l Legalizing crack, cocaine, smack and ice would be such a great idea!
Now!
12 Brsweetheart // Mar 8, 2010 at 8:41 pm
It's been reported by many people that are affected by the behavior; in the building and in the neighborhood. I suppose that if the police found it to be important, they would do something about it.
13 Garbahound // Mar 8, 2010 at 8:57 pm
No! No! No! That would only destroy the profitability of contraband!!! Keep them illegal so mega $$$$$ can be made by modern Al Capone types!
14 Garbahound // Mar 8, 2010 at 8:59 pm
Have you complained to the landlord? They can't ignore the complaint without gaining some liability for the situation.
15 Brsweetheart // Mar 8, 2010 at 9:08 pm
We are a condo unit. I am the VP for the HOA. We looked into the bylaws, and there is nothing stating anything about illegal substances. (Stupidity on whomever's behalf when written.)
16 Stupid Hippie // Mar 8, 2010 at 9:09 pm
I agree! We should be able to step into our local pharmacy and get coke, smack or meth with nothing more than an ID check!
Think what wonders that will do for the economy! I mean, what could possibly be the economic costs from a freewheeling, legalized hard drugs market, I wonder?
17 bill // Mar 8, 2010 at 9:17 pm
You sound about as as ill-informed about drugs as a D.A.R.E. officer. And no, that is not supposed to be ironic.
18 Stupid Hippie // Mar 8, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Ill-informed? I beg to differ, I think having more people having easier access to cheaper hard drugs will do wonders for the US economy. There could be not economic downside in my opinion.
Trust me, me and my friends have sat in my mom's basement and thought about this a lot. All you need is a good grasp of economics. I usually get that after a hit or two.
19 Garbahound // Mar 8, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Wow. That's unusual! Most strata agreements, etc. have No Drug Activity as one of the basic elements. If there's a council they can vote to deal with it…?
20 Garbahound // Mar 8, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Economics (via Milton Friedman) of drugs –
legal=20-30% profit (doing well!)
illegal=1200-2000% profit (so they can afford to buy guns, too!)
Interesting…
21 BRSweetheart // Mar 8, 2010 at 9:41 pm
I know. It's sub par. We have meetings every 6 months and I am sure we could vote.
People in this building tend to stick their heads into the sand with everything which places a huge burden onto only a couple of us who get things done.
At the meetings, owners are big talk, and then no walk.
22 Stupid Hippie // Mar 8, 2010 at 9:48 pm
…and no downside costs from legalizing hard drugs!
It'll be paradise I'm sure plus all those taxes will pay for every welfare program you can dream up of. I have one to teach gangbangers the lute….it'll end all urban violence….I promise.
23 alex // Mar 8, 2010 at 9:57 pm
In your mom's basement? can we really believe what you say when you can't even get your own place?
24 bill // Mar 8, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Alex, it's this idiot's attempt at humor. Read his posts…then again, don't. You'll lose IQ points by reading Stupid Hippie's postings.
25 Stupid Hippie // Mar 8, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Bill, are you coming down? You seem kind of angry and edgy.
Legalize drugs, end world poverty!
26 Bark more, Wag Less // Mar 8, 2010 at 10:31 pm
Milton Friedman? What are you a Reaganite, Chicago School economist now?
Funny how dopers will pick and choose their economists to suit their drugs needs not their political beliefs.
27 Mr. Crankypants // Mar 8, 2010 at 11:13 pm
In my personal experience, it may take as much as a month or more for the police to gather enough evidence to proceed with an arrest in these cases. It may not be a high priority, but I doubt they're ignoring it. Continuing to report the activity can't hurt, either.
28 BRSweetheart // Mar 8, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Thank you Mr. Crankypants.
It has been reported (I believe to be for) over a year now.
The fact that there is drug dealing going on is a major no-brainer, but it is the traffic (car & people) that is unnerving. Creepy creepy crEEpy people coming and going.
Plus, we are in a SCHOOL ZONE.
I hope that something will be done at some point.
It is uncomfortable.
29 Mr. Crankypants // Mar 8, 2010 at 11:29 pm
Maybe you can post some signs that read “Smile! You're being photographed!” The condo is private property, right? I think you can post such a sign legally. Even if there's no photography happening, it may act as a deterrent of sorts.
Also, maybe lease agreements need to be updated to include the No Drug clauses that are common in rentals. I think that's a decent place to start, anyway and it's not uncommon for lease agreements to change in this way. Would at least give a legal leg to stand on to evict them, yes?
30 BRSweetheart // Mar 8, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Thank you.
Yes, I certainly would/will do what I can.
I like the surveillance (fake or not) idea.
And then getting No Drug clauses into the bylaws.
Thank you, again. :o)
31 onederfullone // Mar 9, 2010 at 12:23 am
stupidity, even if by design.
you know, Seattle…
32 Garbahound // Mar 9, 2010 at 12:57 am
I am using the FACTS. Who cares who came up with the description of the situation, righty, lefty, or anarcho-wobblie-endarchist. Friedman's right on this one.
33 kim // Mar 9, 2010 at 5:06 am
the school zone should give you extra weight. bring it to the attention of spd and the landlord. that should rattle someone's cage.
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