THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601250001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
In the movie ``Network,'' people lean out windows and scream that they're mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore.
Something like that is happening in Portsmouth. Four hundred eleven of the city's some 100,000 residents gathered at a middle school for what was billed as a ``Crime Summit.'' They were there to suggest and discover ways to fight crime. The door prize was a home-security system.
One resident, Harvey Johnson, told the others, ``I hate to disturb you, but this house is on fire.''
Nothing was done to soft-pedal the crime problem. A record 37 murders were committed in Portsmouth last year. While the overall crime rate was down, violent crimes against people were up.
Johnson led everyone in the pledge: ``I know that I cannot do everything, but I can do something; and what I can do, I ought to do; and what I ought to do, by the grace of God, I will do.''
Police Chief Dennis A. Mook was introduced to residents as ``a friend of anybody in Portsmouth who will let him be.''
And his message was that the city cannot afford enough officers for police to fight crime alone. The traditional police method - receive 911 call, sweep in to make arrests, rush back out - doesn't work today, he said. Police have to be in the neighborhoods all the time, highly visible to criminals and partners with law-abiding residents.
Portsmouth is doing many things right. It has 57 Neighborhood Watch organizations. It has a police Citizens Academy, at which residents spend one night a week for 12 weeks learning all about police work, even accompanying police on rounds. The city is implementing a Neighborhood Enhancement and Action Team program, usually called NEAT. It divides the city into nine sections and assigns two police officers full time to each section. By fall, there is to be a NEAT office in each section.
``This program,'' Mook said, ``is designed to tell criminals, we are here to stay.''
At the Crime Summit, residents divided into 15 groups and brainstormed ways to combat crime. Their hundreds of suggestions will be considered by police and others in developing an action plan.
Significantly, all seven council members attended the summit. As elected officials, they know residents' concerns.
Many of the residents' suggestions were for actions that residents could take, such as identifying and monitoring vacant buildings where drug users might congregate, leaving porch lights on and letting children know police are their friends.
Motivating the residents at the Crime Summit was a sense of pride in their city and pain that its reputation has been sullied by reports of violent crimes.
Many neighborhoods are safe, but drugs are a plague on the city and drug dealers have terrorized some parts of the city. A federal task force against violent crime has made key arrests in recent months. Residents have reason to believe their city, with their help, can more effectively fight crime. The situation is far from hopeless.
Across Hampton Roads, more citizens are asking, ``What can I do to make things better?'' There's a growing awareness that government - city, state or federal - cannot assure people a good life. Residents must step up to the plate.
Together, they can do amazing things. by CNB