Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 26, 1993 TAG: 9303260258
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MORE PATROLS AT LANSDOWNE
The Roanoke Police Department has increased patrols around Lansdowne housing project, Chief M. David Hooper said Thursday.But it could be several months before the department's community policing unit can move into the area.
Concerns about safety at the housing complex were renewed early Wednesday when a 29-year-old Roanoke man was found shot to death on Centre Avenue Northwest.
Police said Ivory Francis Williams had been shot five times in the chest, torso, leg and forehead with a small-caliber gun.
Witnesses told police that two men fled in a new red car. Police have declined to discuss a motive.
Since 1989, four people have died from gunfire near Lansdowne. The previous three killings were drug-related.
At least two other people have been wounded by gunfire this year.
"We stepped up patrol even prior to this incident due to increased activities that disturb the residents," Hooper said. "It's becoming a spot of high activity. It's certainly one that deserves attention, yes."
Hooper said while the community policing unit, known as COPE, is not yet working in the area, regular patrol officers have increased their presence.
When the shooting of Williams was reported, a patrol car was within a block of where his body was found. "It didn't occur because of a lack of patrol," Hooper said.
In the past several months, Lansdowne residents have expressed concern about the amount of gunfire heard around the Northwest Roanoke complex.
Hooper said demand for community policing, which enables police officers to go door to door and talk to residents about their problems, is outstripping his available manpower.
That problem will lessen when recent graduates of the police academy gain enough experience to allow eight veteran officers to assume a role with a second COPE unit.
The city has one eight-member COPE unit that is focusing on the neighborhood around Hurt Park housing project. Hooper said there is still unfinished work in that neighborhood and the COPE unit cannot be moved.
"People feel [COPE] is an answer to all the problems in their neighborhood, but it's not," he said.
Hooper said those expectations aren't a bad thing. "That approach to policing is gaining acceptance and citizen support," Hooper said.
Neva Smith, executive director of the city Redevelopment and Housing Authority, said she is hopeful headway can be made against crime and drugs through that cooperation among residents, police, the housing authority and other agencies.
"It's not going to be easy," Smith said. "But we have to start someplace."
Staff Writer Mike Hudson contributed to this story.