THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601040127
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 161 lines
AS THE 1990 gray Chevrolet Caprice turned left off South Norfolk's Jackson Avenue, its headlights briefly illuminated two men near the front of a darkened building.
``That's a suspected crack house,'' said Johnny Bandy, security guard for Virginia Private Security, who is driving the car.
The figures faded quickly into the shadows at the side of the building as the car cruised slowly past.
Two doors down on the left, Bandy braked to a stop, then used a hand-held spotlight to light up the house and its grounds, including three vehicles parked in the driveway.
``We check to make sure that there are no strange cars nearby,'' he said.
Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Bandy steered around the next corner to shine his big light into the back yard of the property.
It was 7:06 p.m., Nov. 4, a Saturday, and Bandy had just begun his rounds. He would patrol the neighborhood until 7 a.m., with forays into the adjacent Campostella section of Norfolk to check a business property, another of Virginia Private Security's customers.
The fledgling firm is the joint venture of Bandy and Joel Harris, former Norfolk law enforcement officers, and Harris' brother, Michael Harris, an auxiliary deputy with the Chesapeake Sheriff's Department. The three hope to help police return the South Norfolk neighborhood to the safe place it once was.
These community-minded entrepreneurs have no intention of stopping there. They plan to expand their patrol area to include other troubled sections of Hampton Roads. They'll talk to civic leagues and offer free patrols of church properties to participating neighborhoods.
``The police don't have time to ride through the areas,'' said Joel Harris, who was manning the radio at the company's Jackson Avenue headquarters one night last month.
Private patrols of businesses are nothing new, but protection of residences and their occupants is, said Joel Harris of their new approach to citizens' worries about safety - at least in the Tidewater area. It's just another example, he said, of emerging public-private partnerships that operate to the benefit of citizens.
And it is an idea whose time has come, say those availing themselves of the company's services.
Crime in the Jackson Avenue neighborhood is on the increase, said resident Monique Courier, and ``police are overworked.''
But ``these guys make it less scary,'' she said.
Courier said she frequently watches ``drug deals taking place in the church parking lot'' near her home but doesn't call police because they are so backed up with emergency calls that they'd never get there in time to make an arrest.
``They have to prioritize calls - burglary vs. noise,'' interjected Joel Harris, a 39-year-old former Norfolk police officer and sniper for Norfolk's Emergency Response Team. He is currently a rescue diver with the Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue Squad.
Courier and Brian Yates have hired Virginia Private Security to patrol their Jackson Avenue property for $15 a month. They think it is a bargain.
The couple claims that as soon as they hired VPA, activity at a suspected crack house near their home dropped dramatically. Courier and Yates are among the 15 customers the company has acquired during its first month of business.
7:09 p.m., Transylvania Avenue - Bandy shined a spotlight on the outside of B&J Blasting. Later, he would stop by and check to make sure the door and windows were secure.
7:13 p.m., B Street - Bandy shined his light into an alleyway near the home of a client, checking to make sure that no one is trying to break in. ``B Street is one of the worst sections of South Norfolk now,'' he said, stepping on the gas.
South Norfolk was once one of the elite sections of what is now Chesapeake, Bandy explained, but when drug dealers moved in, things went downhill fast. South Norfolk's proud history goes back to a time when it was a municipality in its own right. Then it merged with Chesapeake.
Now, the neighborhood is dotted with suspected crack houses, and some buildings are boarded up. Several bars scattered around the neighborhood don't help the situation either, said Bandy.
``When I was a kid, I could walk to the theater,'' he said, noting that there are no citizens to be seen on any of the residential neighborhood's streets now that dark has come on.
Bandy, who was born and raised in South Norfolk, said, ``They should be able to walk around without worrying.''
``There's another suspected crack house,'' he said, pointing to a dark, foreboding structure.
7:18 p.m., Jackson Avenue - Bandy spotlighted Zenas Roberts' house, making sure that no one lurked on the screened-in front porch. Then he stopped in front of William Butline's home and went through the usual visual check.
7:24 p.m., Portlock - ``This is where they found the body of a young woman a few years ago,'' said Bandy, pointing out a patch of woods. ``We're going to target this neighborhood as well. We believe in this. It's something that could take the neighborhoods away from the drug dealers.''
7:28 p.m., South Norfolk - Bandy cruised the sprawling grounds of Chesapeake Terminal, a waste oil processing company. The firm pays $35 a month for the nightly patrols. One employee is still on the property and comes out of a blue tent to speak to Bandy.
``Everything OK, Martin?'' asked Bandy.
7:34 p.m., near one of the large oil tanks at Chesapeake Terminal - Bandy stopped to log his visit.
7:39 p.m., Bandy was en route to Norfolk.
7:45 p.m., the Campostella section of Norfolk - Bandy's car passed two homes with police cars, lights flashing, parked along the street in front of them. ``It's bad here,'' he said. Many darkened and boarded up homes and businesses lined the streets.
7:53 p.m., Norfolk's C&M Oil Co. - Bandy directed his light toward a chain-link fence surrounding the property. ``One time, I heard shots from the project over there,'' he said, pointing to a public housing development next to C&M. Another chain-link fence encloses the brick, barracks-like structures of the project.
8:03 p.m., Jackson Avenue - Bandy's one-hour patrol came to an end. He prepared to report in to the office, then head out again to conduct random checks of customers' properties.
The company, which also interacts with the new community policing project just instituted at the Police Department's Second Precinct, has the latest in technology to allow instant response. Patrolmen carry weapons and are prepared to use them if their lives, or the lives of their clients, are in danger.
Bandy, 36, is an 11-year veteran of the Norfolk Sheriff's Department. He and the Harris brothers wear white golf shirts with embroidered company emblems and blue trousers when on duty. This, they think, makes them less intimidating to the average citizen than a uniformed police officer. But, like police, they carry guns.
Joel Harris carries a .45 automatic, and Bandy keeps a Glock 9mm pistol in his holster. Like police, the three are ready to make arrests and snap handcuffs on suspected criminals.
The service, meant to be preventive and deterrent rather then responsive, has been instrumental in apprehending an alleged criminal.
Joel Harris detained an armed theft suspect who just happened to come his way one recent night. Chesapeake police were in foot pursuit of the man, said Harris, when he grabbed him.
So far, the company is not showing a profit - in fact, the three principals are paying out of their own pockets to keep it running. But they remain confident that helping wary citizens feel secure is an idea that will take off like wildfire once it catches on.
Joel and Michael Harris and Johnny Bandy advise their customers to dial 911 first in an emergency, but Monique Courier said she'll call the private service if she feels threatened.
``These guys you call, and they are there,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
SECURITY PATROL
ON THE COVER
Michael and Joel Harris, partners in new business Virginia Private
Security, meet with client Martin Brown, a terminal operator for
Chesapeake Terminals. They were photographed by staff photographer
Mort Fryman.
Michael Harris is one of three partners in the Virginia Private
Security.
Johnny Bandy, standing, and Joel Harris, right, meet with clients
Brian Yates and Nicki Courier.
Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
Johnny Bandy shines a spotlight at C&M Oil Co., which is near a
public housing development, where Bandy has heard shots before.
by CNB