News

November 7, 2009

State police vice isn’t a 9-to-5 job

Troopers go undercover to investigate drugs, prostitution, gambling.

FORTY FORT – Imagine popping the top off of a car battery to find marijuana stuffed inside, or posing undercover as a john at a truck stop in a prostitution sting.

Those are just some of the odd situations that a state police trooper could run into while working on the vice unit.

Cpl. Nick Gushka of the Wyoming barracks, Troop P, spoke about the organization’s vice and narcotics unit at Thursday’s Pennsylvania State Police Citizens’ Police Academy.

The program, which concludes Nov. 19, is held weekly at the state police training facility in Forty Fort.

Each troop has a vice unit, which is a specialized group of trained troopers within the state police. Wyoming’s unit covers four counties – Luzerne, Bradford, Sullivan and Wyoming.

Gushka, who has spent eight years on the job as both a supervisor and an undercover trooper, said the unit investigates three major crimes: Drugs, gambling and prostitution.

Sex for money is a misdemeanor. However, there are enhanced penalties depending if prostitutes have AIDS or certain sexually transmitted diseases, Gushka said. A court-ordered test is required, he said.

Investigating gambling requires wiretapping, Gushka said.

Undercover men and women might spend a Friday night in a back room full of bookies or go out for a Super Bowl Sunday raid.

“You can tell the difference between gambling and playing cards,” Gushka said. “Gambling is gambling. It’s easy to figure out.”

Drug work takes up the most time for the vice unit, he said. If troopers get a tip, the unit will go undercover – and flip burgers at a restaurant, if necessary – to gather evidence against suspected dealers.

The job is not a typical Monday through Friday, 9-to-5.

“You don’t know if you’re going home that evening,” he said.

A lot of people complain that police are not doing enough about drug activity, Gushka said, and he acknowledged there are times when the vice unit gets beat by the bad guys.

“We honestly give it our best shot to get the job done,” he said.

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