‘Student’ Officers Pinpoint 105 School Drug Suspects

Seven young Los Angeles police officers who posed as high school students during the fall semester to expose drug dealers got a passing grade Friday from their superiors, who said they pinpointed 105 suspects on seven campuses.

The praise by Police Chief Daryl F. Gates came months after scandal rocked the Los Angeles Police Department’s school buy program. In March, Officer Sharon Fischer, 23, was fired after police decided that she had maintained an “improper” romantic relationship with a football player at Granada Hills High School. The incident brought heavy criticism against the 13-year-old semiannual project.

“There’s no question that the program is still the most effective method to combat drug dealing at high schools,” Gates said at a news conference. “It (the Fischer incident) was unfortunate, but we took care of it very quickly.”

The officers made 166 narcotics purchases on the seven campuses from 105 suspects and seized $14,000 worth of illegal drugs, reported Gates, who said it is more difficult today to make drug purchases and arrests because of the program’s notoriety. By contrast, in their program earlier this year officers seized drugs valued at more than $40,000.

“The students play a kind of game, where any new face is accused of being a narc. The market has really tightened down because of it,” he said.

Officer Maria Barrera, who worked undercover at Manual Arts High School, said she had to act like a typical new student to blend in.

“You just talk like they do, act like they do. It’s part of the fun,” said Barrera, 24.

Officer Mark Pooler, 23, posed as a student at Grant High School in the San Fernando Valley, where earlier this year city officials held a Red Ribbon Day to promote the Police Department’s anti-drug campaign.

“The Red Ribbon presentation was at lunch; I bought a dime bag . . . $10 worth of marijuana before that,” he said.

Five other officers posed as students at Chatsworth, Franklin, Jefferson, Locke and Roosevelt high schools.

The officers made fewer arrests and found less paraphernalia and overt drug use than reported in past terms, but the use of drugs on high school campuses is still high, the police chief said.

“We’ve had years where they’ve made over 300 arrests . . . but there still is a great variety of drugs today, and it continues to plague young people,” he said.

Barrera estimated from her experience that almost 75% of Manual Arts High School students bought drugs regularly and that “the entire student body was aware of the use and sales of drugs.” About 75% of Grant High School students have tried drugs, Pooler estimated.

Of the 105 suspects, 79 were students and 29 were non-students, Gates said. Police did not say how many have been arrested.

In several instances, those arrested were adults who furnished the students with drugs, including a 73-year-old suspect who was known by student dealers as “Old Man Tom.” Thomas Davis was arrested by an undercover officer who was told by many students that he sold marijuana from his house near one of the schools, which was not identified, Gates said.