The double doors in the back crash open with a metallic bang.
At the sound of Exit Right!, the Career Criminal Apprehension Team piles out, several members with guns drawn.
The Vancouver Police and state Department of Corrections officers have set their sights on Audis Ellery Cagle, 41, a fugitive from Kentucky wanted for first-degree child neglect as well as a long list of property crimes, including burglary.
The unit, called C-CAT for short, is focused on arresting the habitual offenders who have jumped bail or committed new crimes after being released from jail. Since September 2005, the team has made more than 1,000 arrests, found 123 weapons, and seized nearly $150,000 in cash from drug sales.
Acting Vancouver Police Chief Mitch Barker calls C-CAT one of our most successful initiatives. With 80 percent of all crime believed to be committed by 20 percent of all criminals, it makes sense to put the most prolific offenders behind bars. Barker would like to see the program expand with more personnel and more officers from other agencies.
At Cagle's door, Detective Bryan Acee pounds with his fist, the knock in the police term, knock and announce.
Police with a search warrant! he shouts.
Demand entry! Open the door!
Cagle quickly pulls the door open.
Just as quickly, a dark blur swarms his living room. The officers wear black ballistic vests, designed to slow down bullets, jeans and tennis shoes.
While surprised, Cagle wasn't asleep.
He is wearing grubby jeans and a bright yellow fleece jacket. His hands appear to be soiled with dirt and car grease. The large television screen is freeze-framed on a pornographic movie.
The living room is cluttered with papers, food containers and electronic equipment. Among the debris, something catches one of the officer's eye: a pile of red dust and matchbook covers.
It's believed to be Red P; red phosphorus, one of the ingredients used to make methamphetamine.
The team's focus shifts to searching for evidence of drug manufacturing, and a peek inside the garage reveals a small meth lab. One officer, a trained drug recognition expert, takes over. He tells everyone to step out, and he pulls on a pair of gloves as Acee makes arrangements to get an amended search warrant to collect evidence of drug manufacturing activity.
Meanwhile, Cagle has been placed under arrest. He is laid out flat on his stomach on the floor, his wrists locked into handcuffs.
You understand what's going on?
Acee asks, listing Cagle's offenses.
Does that surprise you? Did you know?
Acee asks.
No sir, I did not, Cagle replies, his native Kentucky apparent in his voice. I was just put on probation for child support.
About half an hour earlier, the team listened as Acee outlined the details of their first search warrant.
On this day, the team headed out early out of concern that unlike many career criminals, Cagle might actually have a job. They wanted to catch him before he went to work.
C-CAT officers strive for the element of surprise, allowing them to collar fugitives without anyone getting hurt.
The officers are armed with handguns, often strapped to one thigh, as well as bright yellow Tasers designed to administer debilitating, nonlethal electric shocks.
Acee said officers had seen Cagle at the house the day before.
There were no children living at the home, nor did there appear to be any dogs or physical barriers that could impede the officers.
The briefing is over in less than 10 minutes.
I'll call it in, Sgt.
Mike Chylack said, holding a radio to his mouth. He tells emergency dispatch that the team is ready to move.
With that, the officers walk into the parking lot as daylight starts to burn through the chilly darkness.
They pile into an unmarked truck as the heavy-metal music of AC/DC rattles the camper-like interior.
Asked if they usually listen to hard rock as they head out on early-morning search warrants, Department of Corrections officer Brian Ford mutters: Unfortunately, yes.
A former Washington State University football defensive lineman, Ford is often in charge of the key: a heavy battering ram used to force open doors.
The discovery of the small meth-making operation led one of the officers back to the Clark County Courthouse to amend the search warrant.
On this day, it can wait until District Court Judge Vernon Schreiber arrives at his office. The team can't always wait, however, and members have awakened the judge or shown up at his house in the middle of the night.
Once Acee drove, lights flashing and siren blaring, to meet Schreiber at Costco, where he was shopping with his wife, to get a search warrant signed.
I feel this is part of the job, Schreiber said. The officers do a great deal of background work: surveillance; gathering information from other agencies; making sure they can make arrests safely.
I can at least make myself available, Schreiber said. They've got an open invitation.
Acee said it has been a good partnership with some unexpected side benefits.
He has always made himself available to us -- at all hours of the night, he said. His wife, Pat, makes great brownies, too. She usually offers us snacks and dinner when we stop by.
On this particular morning, one officer heads downtown to meet Schreiber with a revised search warrant that will allow them to look for drugs and evidence of drug activity at the Cagle residence. The Drug Task Force has been alerted, and the C-CAT team, minus a couple of officers left behind at the residence, heads back to the precinct to regroup.
Cagle goes to the Clark County Jail, arrested on suspicion of manufacturing a controlled substance and on two warrants from Kentucky.
The out-of-state holds have no bail. His next court appearance is Dec. 8.
Cagle was the first of three repeat offenders C-CAT took into custody that day. There's no way to know how much crime was prevented with those three arrests.
It's been my experience that the repeat offenders and career criminals in our community commit most of the crime, Acee said.
The C-CAT program is aimed at identifying the small proportion of 'career criminals' in our community and seeing that they are held responsible for their actions.
Scott Wilcox, a community corrections supervisor with the Department of Corrections, said that without a specialized unit such as C-CAT, repeat offenders were only arrested when they committed another crime or found randomly, such as during a traffic stop.
They kind of remained in the system, Wilcox said.
When the habitual offenders are taken into custody and serve long terms, he said, it not only protects the community by preventing them from committing new crimes -- it can re-direct the criminal.
We need to break that cycle, Wilcox said.
At the third address they visit on a recent morning, the C-CAT team just walks in through the unlocked door after announcing their arrival.
But just inside, a large black pit bull lunges at Acee.
Get hold of your dog or it's going to get shot! he says, pointing his weapon at the animal.
Two of the women staying at the apartment control the beast.
We almost had a dead dog, Acee says. He stopped a couple of feet away.
The apartment off St. Johns Road has trash scattered everywhere. The smell of garbage, spoiling food and dog waste hangs in the air.
People are flopped out on dirty mattresses.
Michael J. Hatch, 29, a man with a long and violent history, is pulled out of the apartment in handcuffs.
He fought with our team the last time we arrested him, Acee says.
As he stands on the apartment's landing next to a stack of cardboard boxes, Hatch asks plaintively if he can kiss his wife before going to jail.
Request denied.
So he settles for yelling, Bye, baby, I love you! over his shoulder as he's led to a patrol car. Hatch also remains in jail for carrying a weapon without a permit and violating his probation.
There is no bail available for either charge.
A second man, Sean Lucas Finley, 35, is arrested at home for being in the company of a felon and in a home known to have drug activity, both violations of his parole.
It's not noon yet, and the team has arrested three habitual offenders.
Looking around the apartment, Acee announces the team is ready to go.
We've found what we were looking for, he says.
Kelly Adams can be contacted at 360-759-8016 or e-mail at kelly.
adams@columbian.com.
* Barricaded subject: A person is considered a barricaded subject if he refuses to come out of a residence or other building when asked and is believed to be armed.
He is also considered barricaded if he is attempting to hide from officers or prevent their entry.
* C-CAT: Career Criminal Apprehension Unit. The unit is composed of officers from the Vancouver Police Department, the Clark County Sheriff's Office and the Washington State Department of Corrections.
The unit is focused on arresting repeat offenders.
* Career criminal: A person with a long criminal history whose livelihood is largely based on illegal activity and/or is prone to re-commit offenses.
* CAIC: Child Abuse Intervention Center.
* DOC: Department of Corrections.
* DTF: Drug Task Force. An interagency organization focused on investigating drug activity.
* DV: Domestic violence.
* K/A: Knock and Announce. An entry procedure used by C-CAT officers.
They pound on the door and loudly announce their presence.
* Key: The 30-plus-pound battering ram used to break down doors.
* NRT: The Neighborhood Response Team.
A unit of the Vancouver Police Department established to quickly react to car prowls and other neighborhood crime trends.
* PC: Probable cause. A standard, usually a reasonable belief, that a crime has been committed or an offender is present in a home or other location.
The standard must be met for police officers to obtain a search warrant.
* RED P: Red phosphorus, one of the ingredients used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, often obtained from matchbooks.
* SWAT: Special Weapons and Tactics.
A team of law enforcement officers trained to respond to high-risk calls such as hostage situations and ones involving violent offenders.
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