Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 5, 1995 TAG: 9506050041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roanoke Public Safety Director Chip Snead is setting up a team of police, planners, prosecutors, members of the city manager's staff, and zoning and building officials to tackle crack houses and other problems.
The Roanoke Neighborhood Partnership and John Marlles, director of community planning, are organizing workshops for neighborhood leaders on how to deal with troubles that stretch beyond the purview of any single city department. In many cases, properties where drugs are sold are beset with building code and other violations outside the jurisdiction of police.
Police and the commonwealth's attorney's office are developing forms city residents could fill out with the kinds of details about criminals that can help prosecutors win convictions.
Members of the Wasena Neighborhood Forum complained to police more than two years before two teen-age brothers who hung out on Wasena's Kerns Avenue were charged recently with selling crack cocaine. Wasena, Old Southwest and other neighborhoods also are battling rental houses and substandard buildings used by drug dealers and users.
Police admitted at a May 25 citywide crime meeting in Wasena that it took too long to chase the drug dealers off Kerns Avenue. "That is one that slipped through the cracks," police Lt. Doug Allen said.
He, Snead and two city prosecutors faced many angry residents in the crowd of 90 at that night's meeting. Residents urged police to search rumored drug users and dealers as they walk the streets or sit in their cars. They asked police to lock up people found with a rock of crack cocaine or small amounts of other illegal drugs.
Allen and regional drug prosecutor Dennis Nagel told the audience that Roanoke's 260 police officers already are stretched thin and that jails are overcrowded. They reminded residents that the Bill of Rights protects citizens against searches and charges based on hearsay alone.
Even so, Snead said Friday, "I think there are ways to improve services to citizens and get more timely results, if we improve our internal communications."
He expects the new city team to meet about once a month, "or at least several times a quarter." At times, grounds maintenance, social services and parks and recreation workers will be invited to meetings to discuss a specific trouble spot.
"The situation in Wasena is forcing us to take a real serious look at some of these problems," Marlles said.
He said the Neighborhood Partnership will contact neighborhood organizations by early July to ask for ideas on the kinds of training they need. The Police Department already offers a basic course for groups starting Crimewatch programs, but Marlles wants the new workshops to be "a kind of graduate course," dealing with more complex social problems.
Forms for residents gathering information for police on suspected crimes are expected to be available later this summer.
At the Wasena meeting, Allen said witnesses should record the times when drug dealers are in operation. "They work in four-hour shifts or eight-hour shifts, just like General Electric," he said.
Nagel and Roanoke Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony said seemingly insignificant details can help them prove a drug case. Do dealers keep their money in their right pocket and drugs in their left? What were they wearing? Where do they seem to stash their drugs? In a brown paper bag or a false-bottomed soft drink can tossed on the street?
Anthony said some Roanoke drug dealers recently hid their drugs in the sand under the children's swing in a public park.
Joe Nash, Wasena's Crimewatch chairman, has been recording details about drug dealing on his street for two years. Now, he says, the neighborhood is finally getting attention from city government. The Wasena Neighborhood Forum organized the May 25 meeting attended by people from across Southwest and Northwest Roanoke.
"We've got more people involved, working toward the ends we're hoping to come to - to eliminate the crime problem," he said.
Nash feels good, too, about taking the time to work with city agencies and learn how each one works. "I do think going through the city is the better way to go right now. We've got all the resources of the city available to us."
Two Wasena residents have complained that Nash and forum president Terri Beck have exaggerated the amount of crime in Wasena. Nash said most people, however, have applauded them for trying to stop crime before it gets any worse. "Everybody else we've heard from thinks we've done the right thing."
by CNB