NORTH : FULLERTON : $300,000 Limit Set for ‘Drug-Buying’ Fund

A year ago, the Police Department needed as little as $35,000 so that its undercover officers could show “flash money” to set up drug arrests.

But with cocaine flooding into North County in the last nine months, the required amounts have soared up to $250,000. And Fullerton police say the day is coming when they may need $1 million for undercover agents to convince drug dealers that they are legitimate players.

“These people want to see the money,” Police Capt. Ron Kaczor said. “If you don’t have the money to lay around, you can’t get anywhere.”

Because front money comes directly out of city coffers, City Treasurer Barbara A. Henderson suggested this week that some kind of limit be set. She said the city is having difficulty finding a carrier to insure the money because it is considered a high risk.

The City Council, acting at her behest, imposed a $300,000 limit on this money, the highest ceiling on such money in the county.

By comparison, Anaheim and Santa Ana limit the use of city money for this purpose to $110,000 and $100,000, respectively. Orange has a limit of $50,000, Garden Grove $70,000. Irvine allows up to $200,000, with the condition that the money be used only by Irvine police and not for a joint investigation with another agency.

Fullerton Police Capt. Lee Devore said his agency’s limit is higher because the department’s “Major Violator Program” specifically targets major drug dealers. Devore said the department previously focused on low-level street dealers but switched to the suppliers after finding that the smaller dealers were returning to the streets after two months or less in jail.

Since the program began, Devore said, Fullerton police have made 974 drug arrests.

While drug dealers a year ago typically trafficked in two kilograms of cocaine or less, Kaczor said, quantities of 10 or 20 kilograms are common today. A kilogram of cocaine, 2.2 pounds, sells for $16,000 today on the street, Devore said.

Kaczor said his officers have never lost any money that they flashed to drug dealers. They do not let the money out of their hands, using it only as proof to a dealer that they can afford a cocaine buy.