THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997 TAG: 9702150229
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 66 lines
Undercover police, who have been hounding drug dealers on Spruce and Van Buren streets for months, got even tougher Friday.
They called for help, and immediately, reinforcements came swarming in what officials called the city's first intensive, coordinated drug blitz.
Police make arrests weekly in the area known for open-air drug activity, but they haven't been able to catch the drug lords in action. Friday, however, utility workers shut off electricity to two buildings located in what police say is the center of the narcotics trade.
And inspections officials agreed to demolish several abandoned houses and clean up an overgrown lot where dealers reportedly hide when their lookouts spot the police.
Sgt. S.W. Smith, who heads the special investigations unit, won't rest until the neighborhood in the shadow of the Planters peanut factory is drug-free.
``This isn't even covert drugs,'' Smith said. ``It's blatant, in-your-face, do-something-about-it.''
Dealing has become so open that ``plucks'' work in the middle of the street, directing customers to a dealer for a portion of the dope.
Detectives have videotapes of customers approaching a suspected dealer's residence. But whenever the police are around, officials say, the house's gate is wired shut, signaling that no deals are being made.
Smith has accepted the challenge.
``It's going to be in-your-face/go-to-jail,'' said the longtime police veteran and recent FBI Academy graduate.
Inspections officials emptied their offices on the spur of the moment Friday morning. Vanessa Savage, housing codes official, noted abandoned houses that she will cite for demolition. The back yard of one looked like a landfill, though a crew had cleared the lot of trash and debris last summer.
``That's the main thing we're here for,'' she said. ``Grass, weeds, trash, debris, inoperative vehicles, vacant structures.''
The fire marshal found a house littered with matches, disposable lighters and beer cans punctured with holes - typical crack cocaine smoking devices, Smith said.
A Virginia Power employee said an electrical wire running from a corner grocery store to an apartment house across the street was too low. And building official Wayne Whitehurst said the wire was improperly grounded and had no permit for service.
That's when the lights went out in both buildings.
The police promise to stay on top of the neighborhood drug trade.
``A portion of the people on this street just want to live a normal life,'' Smith said. ``They are going to have that right.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
MICHAEL KESTNER
The Virginian-Pilot
Vanessa Savage, housing codes official for Suffolk, noted abandoned
houses that she will cite for demolition.
MICHAEL KESTNER
The Virginian-Pilot
Vanessa Savage, housing codes official for Suffolk, said her targets
are, ``Grass, weeds, trash, debris, inoperative vehicles, vacant
structures.'' Police make arrests weekly in the area known for
open-air drug activity, but they haven't been able to catch the drug
lords in action.
KEYWORDS: DRUGS ILLEGAL