Pubdate: Sun, 28 May 2006 Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL) Copyright: 2006 St. Petersburg Times Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/ Website: http://www.sptimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419 Author: Abhi Raghunathan POLICE ACTION AGAINST DRUGS OFTEN INVISIBLE The Slow Approach Often Taken - Dictated by Law and a Desire to Catch Bigger Fish - Frustrates Residents in Affected Areas ST. PETERSBURG - Young men wait at the street corner. When a car approaches, they run to the door, ready to exchange drugs for money. They shout threats at neighbors, and yell "po-po" as a warning when police cruisers show up. Here, in the Palmetto Park neighborhood in the Midtown area of St. Petersburg, many residents wonder: Why can't police just arrest the dealers and shut down the drug house? "These houses are breeding grounds for drugs and crime," said Desiree Cammardella, 45, at a recent neighborhood watch meeting. "I want to know what it takes for police officers to take action. ... A few bad houses are ruining the community." It's a refrain heard in neighborhoods across the country. When people see evidence of brazen drug dealing and call police, they expect officers to charge into the house, seize the drugs and throw the criminals in jail that same day. It rarely works that way. The reality of narcotics work is far more complicated, and more covert. Police officers need to show probable cause that a crime has occurred before they can enter a house suspected to be a site of drug dealing. And they want to ensure they don't jeopardize other investigations or the lives of officers. "I understand how frustrating it can be for somebody to live in a neighborhood and see what they believe to be drug dealing," said William Proffitt, former head of the St. Petersburg Police Department's vice and narcotics division, who now is the department's spokesman. "The trouble has always been if we have a number of undercover operations in your neighborhood, you're not going to see them. And yet we could be doing all kinds of things and you're not going to know about it until a certain time down the road." In Palmetto Park, many residents are frustrated. After a recent spree of robberies, drug dealers hurled Molotov cocktails at the homes of two families active in the neighborhood watch program last Sunday. They say they're still waiting for police to shut down several houses where drug dealing takes place. "The police can't tell me anything," said Wade Burghardt, 33, who's campaigned against local drug dealers and had one of the cocktails hit his house. "The only thing they can say is that the issue will eventually be resolved." Katrina Conner-Mustafa, 36, lives in one of the houses some neighbors have branded drug houses. Conner-Mustafa said new residents moving into Palmetto Park are mistaking the rhythms of a big family for drug dealing. She lives with her parents and several other relatives. Neighbors have called police numerous times to complain of drug activity at her family's house. "They have a big family. They have lots of friends," she said. "You're telling me they can't see them?" But she conceded that drug dealing does take place in the neighborhood: "There's drugs around here, but not in this house." Before they can execute a search warrant and raid a house known for drug dealing, police need to establish probable cause that connects a residence to illegal activity. Spotting a dealer on the sidewalk isn't enough. Police usually need more evidence before they can ask a judge for permission to search a private home, prosecutors say. Sometimes, it can take months or even years. "Search warrants have to be specific to search for the thing that is illegal at the residence in a specific location," said Pat Siracusa, a prosecutor at the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office who's worked with neighborhood activists to put away drug dealers. "They are very specific orders." But the difficulty of obtaining evidence isn't the only reason that narcotics investigations can take a long time. Detectives could learn that a house they're looking into is connected to a bigger network of drug dealers. They could be waiting for a big shipment of drugs to arrive at the house. Or they may decide to learn more about weapons and other dangers inside before making a move. It took six months for St. Pete Beach police and the Sheriff's Office to launch Operation Sand Spur, which led to the arrest of dozens of people in St. Pete Beach on drug-related charges this weekend. The sting came after complaints from local residents and business owners. "If you're in a hurry, you miss things," said captain Michael Platt, who oversees vice and narcotics at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. "If you don't do your homework and look at your target long enough, you could jump into a nest of pit bulls that are nasty." Platt said the Sheriff's Office generally likes undercover officers to make multiple buys at suspected drug houses. If they find connections between a house and a much bigger network, they could wait to learn more before moving in. Authorities also stress the need to work under the radar when trying to shut down the drug trade. They say they understand that concerned residents might not see them at work. "Our actions are more covert in nature," said Maj. Dave Hawkins, current head of the St. Petersburg Police Department's vice and narcotics division. The department's approach has yielded some success in recent years. The number of drug-related arrests citywide rose from 1,771 in 2002 to 3,074 in 2005. Police also have increased arrests in Palmetto Park. Patrick McGovern, the community police officer for the neighborhood, said police made 280 drug-related arrests in 2005, and about 100 so far this year. He said the neighborhood is safer than it has been in the past. Still, McGovern acknowledged that drug dealers still frequent the area. "Grabbing the street buyer, the street seller ... we do that on a regular basis," McGovern said. "Our ultimate goal is to get into the house." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake