So what's it like being a police officer.. and dealing with crack cocaine?


Last year alone, Ottawa Police seized 600 grams of crack.

Every night, there are a number of police officers that patrol the downtown core of Ottawa, where most crack cocaine addicts can be found. They are on the look for traffickers, which are those individuals who are selling small amounts of crack cocaine to finance their own crack cocaine addiction. However, in actuality, officers want to get to the core of the problem - the major crack cocaine dealers. This is the tough part, as these major dealers are good at staying as far away as possible from the police as they can. It can be tough and often costly (resources, undercover agents etc.) to find the true culprits. Whats unfortunate is that the traffickers are the ones who often get caught the most, and end up serving time in jail, whereas these major drug dealers are often never found.

A police officer with the City of Ottawa, Sgt. John Gibbons:


"If somebody dropped a bomb in a subway that ruined the lives of 60 people, they'd be going away for quite a while. Someone who hooks 60 people on drugs ruins lives and changes the nature of a community. They should be looking at serious time."

Often a drug addiction involves crime...
A jobless addict has three options to help them get their next hit: to beg, to borrow, or to steal. When there desperate, and borrowing is not an option anymore, petty crime, like stealing, occurs. Since the number of crack cocaine addicts in Ottawa has rised in recent years, Ottawa police officers have seen an increase in crime rates.