Pubdate: Fri, 28 Aug 2015
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Douglas Quan
Page: A6

POLICE WANT TO PUT PUSHERS PHONES ON HOLD

Look for Powers to Disrupt Dealers' Phone Numbers

Police across the country are looking for new powers to seize, jam or 
de-activate the phone numbers of street-level "dial a dope" drug dealers.

Currently, when police make an arrest and seize a suspected dealer's 
phone, its number lives on and can be used by associates or even 
hijacked by rivals to keep the flow of illicit drugs going.

At their annual conference last week, Canada's police chiefs passed a 
resolution calling on law-makers to give them the ability to cut off 
those lucrative phone numbers.

"Once a telephone number or 'drug line' has been established, it can 
operate non-stop at all hours of the day and distribute drugs to a 
broad base of customers," says a background document attached to the 
resolution.

"As a result, once established, each drug line has an inherent value 
within the drug trafficking realm and can be bought, traded or taken 
over by rival drug trafficking networks.

"Law enforcement has had limited success addressing these drug lines."

Jonathan Dawe, a Toronto criminal defence lawyer, said one thing that 
concerns him is if police start unilaterally cancelling people's 
phone numbers before charges have been laid.

"It would be something quite more disturbing (if ) police, on their 
own initiative, in cases where they don't have sufficient grounds to 
lay a charge, can nevertheless interfere with people's cellphones," he said.

"If there was some provision that let (police) go around cancelling 
numbers willy-nilly ... it would also create a new way in which 
people could harass their enemies - send a tip to the cops about a 
cellphone, get their number de-listed."

Bill Fordy, chief superintendent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police 
detachment in Surrey, B.C., which has seen an outbreak of drugturf 
violence this year and spearheaded the resolution, did not rule out 
the possibility of cutting off phones without a charge.

"Police are seeking lawful authority to disrupt these activities when 
reasonable grounds exist to believe that the line is being used for 
the furtherance of a criminal activity like the trafficking of 
non-prescription, illegal drugs," he said via email.

"There will be occasions when an arrest has been made and charges 
submitted. The lawful disruption of the 'line' at this point would 
enhance police and public safety."

Dial-a-dope operations typically work this way: a drug trafficker 
secures a phone number, then advertises it through business cards or 
word of mouth. A customer calls the number, uses a predetermined code 
to verify his identity, then tells the dealer what he is looking for.

He might ask for "40 hard," for instance, meaning $40-worth of crack 
cocaine. They arrange a time and place to meet.

Currently, when police arrest a suspected dealer, usually in an 
undercover sting where an officer poses as a buyer, they can seize 
phones, cash and other "offence-related property." But it is not 
uncommon, police say, for the suspect's partners to transfer the 
phone number to a new phone and continue the business.

Fordy said his drug investigators have explored several options, 
including asking service providers to suspend phone numbers 
associated with criminal activity, but providers have generally been 
reluctant to do so without a court order.

Investigators also looked into using auto-dialling computers to 
bombard a drug trafficker's phone number with calls to make it 
unusable. But this technique would amount to a "denial of service" 
attack and would contravene the Criminal Code.

The resolution endorsed by police chiefs suggests amending the law so 
police can seize not only suspects' physical properties but 
"non-tangible" items, such as their phone numbers.

"As technology becomes more advanced and we see the private sector 
developing the ability to encrypt things at a greater level, we feel 
that creation of a law enabling us to seize that (phone line) rather 
than have to decrypt it is a much more effective use of our resources 
and time," Fordy said.

Tim Smith, spokesman for the Canadian Association of Chiefs of 
Police, said the association will gauge support for the resolution 
after the federal election in October.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom