Pubdate: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 Source: Blade, The (OH) Copyright: 2001 The Blade Contact: http://www.toledoblade.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/48 MODEL BLOCK IS WORKING Like any crime-fighting enterprise, Toledo's Model Block program has not totally changed the location of all drug-runners in the city. But it has helped reduce overall crime and overall despair in seven select neighborhoods, with another just added. And it has improved housing values. Skepticism abounded in 1998 when police began 24-hour patrols in the 1400 and 1500 blocks of Oakwood Avenue, declaring war on crime and drug trafficking, when city inspectors arrived to label dilapidated dwellings for repair or demolition, and when Block Watch people arrived to help residents organize. After that areas in North Toledo, Ironwood, South Toledo, the Renaissance Area, the Roosevelt Neighborhood, the Bancroft, Upton, Monroe Area. all got attention. Now the same care is being given to blocks bounded by Bancroft, Monroe, and South Cove Boulevard, Rosedale Street, and Torrey Hill Drive. The aim here, as it was in the New York City program that Toledo borrowed from, was to get rid of invitations to crime: vacant buildings, poor lighting, unkempt property. Residents of these neighborhoods rightly complain that once the police have left, the drug-dealing rats come out to feed again. And litter is again despoiling the streets. The police and other city intervention was meant to jump-start stronger resident involvement in their respective neighborhoods. This means an obvious block watch presence. It means picking up some litter even if you didn't toss it - perhaps a monthly neighborhood street cleanup day that involves all residents. And it means calling police when drug sales are obvious. For sure police can never be in designated neighborhoods all the time. But it certainly wouldn't hurt for the department to schedule random sweeps in these model block neighborhoods, based on intelligence from residents. After all, it occasionally does that with parents who are deadbeats when it comes to child support. Random forays, behavioral theory tells us, are best used to keep people, in this case bad guys, on edge - perhaps enough to quit? - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens