The veteran Edmonton cop, who cherishes Edmonton's too-few warm evenings and the smell of meat on the grill as much as anyone, was being driven crazy by what police officers across the city have described as one of the most frustrating seasons they've ever experienced.

Not because the city was in the grip of a massive crime wave, mind you.

Rather, they were all being driven batty by the shortage of men and women in uniform, thanks to as many as three retirements a week and everyone else trying to squeeze in a couple of weeks vacation.

On top of that, this summer saw a new method for patrolling the streets and a new shift-scheduling system, both designed to put more boots on the ground.

All of this resulted in cops being pulled off special assignments and either put back on regular patrol or loaned to other squads to fill staffing holes, at least until people started getting back from vacation.

In the midst of this bedlam, Brodeur was taking his staggeringly effective methods for turning the tables on small-time drug dealers and launching a city-wide program to take back neighbourhoods for hard-working, law-abiding citizens.

And the Report A Drug House program is groaning under the weight of its own success.

Since it was launched at the end of June, citizens have reported more than 550 suspected drug houses in all corners of the city.

They either called the special hotline ( 426-8299 ) or e-mailed in the tips ( reportadrughouse@police.edmonton.ab.ca ).

Brodeur is pleading with the public for patience as they sift through the avalanche of tips and get them to the cops on the street.

So far, they've started passing along 260 addresses, and they expect to start picking up speed as they go through the remaining 300.

"We've been tweaking out the system over the summer," he told a crowd at the Eastwood community hall on 118 Avenue last week. "So bear with us. It's coming along now."

The program targets what Brodeur describes as "disorder houses that support the drug lifestyle" - the party houses that rattle neighbours' windows all night, the small-time dealers who have people coming and going at all hours and lead to an escalation of thefts and break-ins at neighbouring homes.

While a constable on the south side, Brodeur was able to make life miserable for dealers who were destroying neighbourhoods with noise, traffic and petty crime.

Working with neighbours, landlords, bylaw officers, health and fire inspectors, even animal control officials, he would use whatever legal means necessary to harass drug dealers until they gave up and moved away.

He built such a pit bull reputation that in some cases all he had to do was leave his business card in the door jamb of a dealer's house and within days they'd be gone.

He now has a battery of volunteers answering the phones and entering all data into a computer system and he's training cops across the city in his techniques.

Edmonton, he said, is "awash in drugs," to the point where dealers and users are brazenly conducting business in broad daylight.

Brodeur isn't concerned with arrest statistics, or mounting costly and time-consuming investigations that will result in small-time dealers getting a slap on the wrist and then carrying on as if nothing happened.

If charges are laid, great. But his goal, he told the crowd, is to claim back the streets for regular people.