CAT squad on the prowl

As in 79 grams of methamphetamine, 27 grams of heroine and 19 grams of cocaine — some of the unit's total drug seizures for 2007.

The four-member CAT squad, as it's commonly known, deals with low-level drug users and dealers in a town that prides itself on its low crime rate.

Oro Valley had no homicides last year. But, like other places, the town has experienced problems with rising property crimes associated with rampant use of methamphetamine.

For example, the number of burglaries increased from 48 in 2000 to 134 in 2007, police data show.

Incidents of vandalism went from 267 in 2000 to 428 in 2006. Last year, the number dropped to 395.

Since it was formed in mid-2005, the CAT squad has dealt with auto theft, burglary and vandalism, which investigators usually trace to drug users.

"Ninety-five percent of property crimes are committed by meth addicts," said Sgt. Mike McBride, the squad's leader. "They're stealing mail every day, they're doing Internet identity theft, credit-card fraud, burglaries."

Innocent people get hurt

To pay for their drugs, addicts commit property crimes that can snare many innocent people, the sergeant said.

"Our main mission is to prevent that from happening," McBride said.

The department soon will add two more officers to the squad, Oro Valley Police Lt. Chris Olson said.

A $600,000 federal grant from the Justice Department's Community Oriented Policing Services program initially boosted police funding for the additional manpower needed to create the squad, Olson said.

"It was formed as a special unit to address specific community problems that we had and to alleviate patrol from having to focus on those issues," the lieutenant said.

The unit works to combat the kind of crime that can tear apart a community's quality of life, Olson noted.

Crime prevention is a key goal of the Police Department, Olson said, and "the CAT squad sticks out as a big part of it."

Plainclothes police work

The four members of the CAT squad work in tandem, dress in plain clothes and drive unmarked cars. Most of their targets come from tips, informants and other law-enforcement agencies they sometimes team up with on cases involving more than one jurisdiction.

A large part of the unit's work involves surveillance, which can last for several hours — or even days and weeks — in and out of Oro Valley.

Recently, McBride and the other three unit members, Officers C. Gastelum, D. Jackson and P. Clegg, went after the prime suspect in a residential burglary in town that took them near the University of Arizona.

McBride, an 18-year police veteran, and his three officers kept a close watch on a corner house that a tipster had signaled as the place where the burglary suspect had holed up.

"We think he went to Phoenix after the burglary and came back to Tucson when things cooled off," McBride said, pulling out the suspect's photograph. Blond, in his early 20s, the suspect is familiar with life behind bars.

"He dropped his prison ID at the house he burglarized," McBride said. "That's how we found out about him."

The squad suspected the man of breaking into the Oro Valley home more than a month earlier and stealing electronic equipment and a shotgun that he probably planned to sell or trade for drugs, McBride recalled.

"He's a drug addict, and he's breaking into houses to support his habit."

After nearly four hours, the unit's four drivers converged at the house they'd been watching and the officers, wearing bulletproof vests, moved in on their suspect.

But the squad came out of the house empty-handed. A cooperative occupant denied the suspect was inside, and a thorough search confirmed it.

"We got another location where he might be," Clegg said after he and his colleagues questioned the occupant.

Added Jackson: "A lot of times, if we don't find the person, we get information. A lot of the investigations are ongoing."

The waiting game

Although the day ended without a glimpse of their suspect, McBride and his officers said surveillance is key to their operations, even when the tactic doesn't immediately yield an arrest.

"We spend a lot of time in our cars," the sergeant said. "We don't always take someone into custody right away, but we are able to question people and gather good information that can eventually lead us to our suspect," McBride said.

A few days later, the CAT squad learned that Tucson police had picked up their burglary suspect for shoplifting.

About two weeks later, the squad was in Tucson again, on the trail of a man suspected of supplying dealers who sell meth in Oro Valley.

The squad arrested the suspect for possession of drugs after he left an apartment near East Speedway and North Alvernon Way, carrying a black camera bag with 53 grams of packaged meth and a scale.

The tip, which came from a law enforcement agency, turned out to be good.

Sometimes, the squad just gets lucky, McBride said.

In an older case, the squad was waiting for a burglary suspect to show up at a home when "this guy just showed up and did a drug deal in front of us. We seized a large amount of methamphetamine there — and his Hummer."

Oro Valley property crimes

Crime 2000 2007 Increase

Arson 7 11 57%

Auto theft 20 73 265%

Burglary 48 134 179%

Larceny 389 576 48%

Vandalism 267 395 48%

Source: Oro Valley Police Department