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.