Officers are targeting the areas where they get the most drug dealing complaints. They have shake downs every night of the week, and they say their randomness is what helps them put dealers behind bars.
Tuesday night, which is considered a slow night for activity, Fayetteville officers confiscated $5,000 in cash and a bag of crack cocaine from four suspects after just an hour of surveillance. Police began watching them after receiving a tip that they were dealing drugs.
Next stop, a neighborhood on the west side, an area from which officers get the most drug trafficking complaint calls.
"We'll randomly stop them, check them and complete what we call field interview cards on them to get their names and information," says Sgt. Stacy Smith with the Emergency Response Team. "We make sure they have no warrants on them, and make sure there's no drugs on them."
The shake downs come on different days at any time of the day or night.
"We just keep applying pressure hoping that they won't come back at different times," Smith said. "Then, we try to mix it up from there, and hopefully we'll get enough charges on them to take them off the street."
"Most of the guys dealing drugs know us because of our unit," says Officer Walt Fisher with the Emergency Response Team. "That's why we have to sneak in on them most of the time or get up on them quick."
Officers say their presence alone intimidates dealers and makes it safer for law-abiding residents to leave their homes even after dark.
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