Pubdate: Tue, 28 Aug 2001 Source: Register-Guard, The (OR) Copyright: 2001 The Register-Guard Contact: http://www.registerguard.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362 Author: Tricia Schwennesen, The Register-Guard WHITEAKER PATROL SEES RESULTS Whiteaker is light-years away from fictional Mayberry, but patrol officers Cheryl Joyner and Scott Dillon are still likely to know your name and a bit of your history if they encounter you on the streets of one of Eugene's highest-crime neighborhoods. Case in point: Last week, the two officers arrived almost simultaneously - one on a bike and the other in a marked patrol car - to the scene of a man and a woman arguing outside a convenience store. Joyner addressed the woman by name and asked what the problem was. Dillon spoke to the man, who was quick to say the dispute wasn't about drugs as he pulled up his sleeves to show no needle marks on his arms. The man explained that the quarrel had begun the night before and that the woman had split his lip and kicked him out of the van they were living in. The officers then traded places: Dillon walked the woman to the van to get the man's belongings - a shirt, a pair of jeans and some socks. Joyner advised the man to stay away a few days, cool off and consider getting some counseling. The officers broke up the argument in a matter of minutes, and the couple parted ways. Dillon and Joyner continued their rounds. The two officers make up a special patrol - the city's answer to fighting crime in Whiteaker and its fringes, known for open drug dealing, prostitution and a high transient population with alcohol abuse problems. Last fiscal year, the City Council approved $9,600 in one-time start-up money to establish a five-day-a-week, two-person patrol team for Whiteaker and the Westside"Jefferson area, and $131,404 in ongoing money to pay salaries, training and equipment costs. By most accounts - from neighbors, business owners, police and politicians - - the results have been dramatic. Overall, behavioral crimes such as drug abuse, liquor violations and prostitution have fallen by a third in the area during the first six months of the year compared with the same period last year, and neighbors have reclaimed Scobert Gardens, a park notorious for drug sales. "The neighborhood hasn't been this good in five or six years," resident Doug Ebbitt said. "It's a whole new day, truly." Rapport And Communication On a typical day, Joyner and Dillon take to the streets - mostly on bikes - where they juggle emergency calls with random stops at local businesses, the area's pocket parks, social service agencies and apartment complexes. Their primary focus is on the area between Second and Eighth avenues and Madison and Polk streets, with some overlap in the Westside"Jefferson area to monitor prostitution. After they defused the convenience store argument, Joyner almost immediately spotted a man wanted for trespassing and notified her partner. They warned the man that the owner of a nearby apartment complex on Sixth Avenue didn't want him around. He consented to steer clear and Dillon stopped by to tell the owner about the agreement. Dillon then moved on to Washington-Jefferson Park, where he ticketed several out-of-state transients for drinking beer from open containers. He drove on to Maurie Jacobs Park along the river bike path for a spot check and then to a commercial warehouse district off Second Avenue, where marijuana users and beer drinkers had been hanging out. All was quiet at both places. The officers met up again at a Washington Street house that had been converted into apartments to check out a neighbor's complaint that a camper-trailer was emitting smoke and noxious fumes. Neither smelled anything strange, and no one was home. The call concluded their morning. The special patrols aren't a new idea - police have used them on the downtown mall and around the University of Oregon for years, but never before in a mostly residential neighborhood such as Whiteaker. "I put a lot of miles on my bike," Joyner said. But that comes with the territory: The one-on-one contact with residents and business owners builds rapport and better communication, she said. Dillon said he was a bit apprehensive about Whiteaker's reputation for crime and sometimes-volatile activism when he first began the patrol. "But it turned out to be a real good experience," he said. "Anytime you get assigned to a new assignment, you know what the problems are, but you don't know what the solutions might be." Their consistent presence is an effective tool to counteract street crime, he said. Difference Is "Night And Day" Ebbitt has lived in Whiteaker for 12 years and has a house adjacent to Scobert Gardens. While he attributes a majority of the park cleanup to a new wrought-iron fence that keeps drug dealers out of the bushes, he credits the bike patrol officers with helping to bring changes throughout the neighborhood. "The difference for me has been night and day," he said. "The park has truly gone from what you could have called a sewer to a sublime acre the neighbors put together. It's wonderful. Everything is better in the neighborhood now." Loretta Moesta, president of O.U.R. Federal Credit Union on the Blair Triangle, said the officers stopped by area businesses to introduce themselves at the beginning of the patrols a year ago and have since become familiar faces. "I think they've made a tremendous positive impact in the community," Moesta said. "It's at a multitude of levels." "It's good for the youth to see a softer face to the police department," she said. "With the heightened visibility of the patrol, it seems to have reduced the blatant small crimes like open drug use." They've also contributed to a better sense of community, she said. "It's nice to have that sense in Whiteaker," she said. "You can see that they know the people and the people know them." That familiarity is perhaps most evident at the apartment complex at 1070 W. Sixth Ave., where officers dealt with the trespasser. Residents there are quick to open their doors to greet Joyner and Dillon by name. The officers make frequent stops there: sometimes five drop-ins a day and up to 30 a week. The building is a combination of low-rent apartments and a storefront spot for Catholic Community Services' food box program. "There's a heavy-duty congregation of transients who come here for food and they're not always happy or sane," said Catholic Community Services worker Duke Cantrelle. "There are domestic problems, people who aren't happy with the way things are going. We get drug addicts, we get drunks, we get a potpourri of problems." Apartment resident Terry Patterson said he welcomes the officers' frequent visits and likes to know they're around. "They're not the average Eugene police officers," he said. "They act like they really care." Not everyone views the increased police presence as a positive thing. Local activists Tim Lewis and Steve Heslin moved out of Whiteaker in the past year. Both are members of CopWatch, a group that tracks police actions. The bike patrol gives police greater access to harass residents and set up surveillance, Lewis said. The patrol was one of several reasons he moved from the area, Heslin said. "On some level, I just got sick of the presence," he said. "I'm sick of being handcuffed and arrested, harassed and assaulted simply for watching the cops." Part Of The Community The idea isn't to hassle people, but to improve the ability of police to respond more quickly to crimes, said Rich Bremer, a community service officer who manages the department's public safety station in Whiteaker. "I'm able to have Scott or Cheryl follow up on those complaints providing a better service (and) continuity," he said. City Councilor Scott Meisner, who lives in the neighborhood and supported forming the patrol, said people feel safer and more connected. "I think it's something people expected all along from the public safety station," he said. "It seems to have made an enormous difference." That's "the whole flavor of community policing - knowing the patterns of people" and having residents recognize the officers as part of the community, said patrol Capt. Becky Hanson. "They know each other on a first-name basis and there's a certain level of trust between the police and the community," she said. Midyear Behavioral Crimes Crimes recorded in the first six months of 2000 compared with the same period this year. Whiteaker Westside/Jefferson 2000 2001 2000 2001 Weapons offenses 9 8 3 5 Prostitution 5 7 68 4 Drug abuse 226 105 45 50 DUII citations 10 19 14 20 DUII arrests 7 3 6 2 Liquor violations 90 82 61 36 Disorderly conduct 43 39 10 16 Other* 259 165 57 43 Curfew arrests 7 8 1 0 Runaway 7 4 1 5 Total 663 440 266 181 * Other crimes include minor firearms violations, criminal abuse, failure to appear, illegal burning, stalking, improper use of 911. - - Eugene Police Department - --- MAP posted-by: Beth