Pubdate: Sat, 09 Dec 2006 Source: News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) Copyright: 2006 The News and Observer Publishing Company Contact: http://www.newsobserver.com/484/story/433256.html Website: http://www.news-observer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304 Author: Marlon A. Walker DRUG PROJECT AREA CHOSEN Initiative Targets Street-Level Dealers RALEIGH - The Rev. Jim Summey remembered what it used to be like in front of English Road Baptist Church in High Point, where parishioners had to get past the prostitutes to get inside. "I'm a Christian, but I'm not real saintly," he told a packed room of Raleigh residents to make a point of how ticked off he was. That was before High Point police started an initiative that they say turned over ownership of the neighborhood from its drug dealers back to its residents. Now, Raleigh police are introducing their own Drug Market Initiative Pilot Project, which begins with identifying "dangerous street-level drug markets" in the city and picking one as the area for the pilot project. Raleigh police would not specify the target area. At the Chavis Park Community Center on Martin Luther King Boulevard, Raleigh Police Chief Jane Perlov spoke Thursday about the need for the project. "We're very good at arresting people," Perlov said. "But it's not getting the neighborhood better, and it's not eliminating the drug market." The project calls for three phases. The first involves going after the suppliers in the chosen area. High-or mid-level dealers, or those found to have criminal records, would be arrested. Nonviolent offenders would get a chance to avoid arrest. David Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who devised the plan, told residents it helps residents regain control of their neighborhoods while helping to rehabilitate those who want to get out of the drug game. During the second phase, community members, service providers and police would provide support and one-on-one case-management to nonviolent offenders and their families. The third phase involves residents looking for further signs of illegal activity, offenders being flagged for special prosecution, and government agencies working with the community to improve the physical environment. Geraldine Alshamy of Raleigh said the ideas reminded her of what she has tried to do in her own family. All seven of her brothers have been imprisoned on drug charges at some point, she said, and three have died. She said she has tried to provide her children, nieces and nephews with the resources to make smarter choices. "I wanted to break the vicious cycle," she said. "If you live in a vacuum, that's all you know. And I didn't want that for my children and my nieces and nephews." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom