Pubdate: Sun, 25 Nov 2001
Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
Copyright: 2001 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc.
Contact:  http://www.journalnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504
Author: Victoria Cherrie

UNEASY STREETS

Residents of high-crime neighborhood at Cleveland Avenue and 21st Street 
embrace, yet question, the presence of law enforcement By Victoria Cherrie 
JOURNAL REPORTER

Years ago, Winston-Salem cops called the intersection of Cleveland Avenue 
and 21st Street "21 Jumpstreet." The area was one of the worst in the city 
for drugs and violent crimes, including homicides. People were afraid to 
come out of their houses to sit on their porches. Parents were afraid to 
let their children play outside.

"The drugs just started coming in. We never did know where they came from," 
said Abraham Liles, 71, who has lived on 22nd Street for 43 years. "The 
drugs did make it scary for the elderly people to even go to the store."

With help from residents, Winston-Salem police cracked down on much of the 
crime. The city shut down trouble spots, including a grocery store where 
drug dealers hung out.

Reported crime dropped. In 1997, police made 686 arrests in the area. In 
2000, 386 arrests were made, according to statistics from the police 
department.

But the drop in crime hasn't been without controversy, especially since the 
arrest last summer of Nakia Glenn. Although residents say they are pleased 
that their community is safer, some say that the safety has come at a 
price. They feel that law-enforcement officers are targeting young men in 
the predominantly black neighborhood and that the police presence has made 
people more fearful.

"I think the police should be our friends," said the Rev. John Parks of New 
Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Cleveland Avenue. "Instead, some people 
feel like they're coming here for war."

Law-enforcement officers say they have worked hard to become a part of the 
community. But they say they often get mixed messages from residents.

"People ask us to get rid of drug dealers and then complain when one of 
their friends or relatives is arrested," said Officer Doug Nance of the 
Winston-Salem Police Department.

The relationship between law-enforcement officers and the neighborhood was 
tested this summer.

Nakia Glenn's friends and relatives said that he was unfairly targeted when 
he was followed, stopped and arrested Aug. 19 at the intersection of 
Cleveland Avenue and 21st Street.

Witnesses said that deputies Shane Wells and Gary Simpson of the Forsyth 
County Sheriff's Office beat him with flashlights.

During the arrest, Glenn swallowed nearly an ounce of cocaine that was in a 
small plastic bag. He also was treated for a gash on the back of his head.

He was taken to Forsyth Medical Center and was in a coma until a few weeks 
ago. A relative said that Glenn has severe brain damage and that he will be 
moved to a specialized hospital in Maryland.

"He's got to learn everything back over," said Rovia Hall, a friend. "When 
I first went to visit, he couldn't even say my name. Nobody deserves to be 
beaten like that."

The State Bureau of Investigation reviewed the case and has turned over its 
findings to Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith, said Bob Clark, an 
SBI spokesman.

Keith will determine whether the deputies acted appropriately.

Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Barker said he does not believe that his 
deputies were out of line.

"With all that I've been able to gather, I don't see that they did anything 
wrong," he said.

A troubled history

Glenn, 22, grew up in Winston-Salem. He dropped out of high school in the 
10th grade.

Before the Aug. 19 incident, he had been arrested 10 times since 1998 and 
charged with more than 20 different offenses, from possession of stolen 
goods to drug sales and probation violation.

During an arrest in May 1999, Winston police officers said that he 
swallowed some cocaine and was taken to the hospital to have his stomach 
pumped.

That same year, Glenn was arrested in Marietta, Ga., during a traffic stop. 
He consented to a search, and officers found about $3,000 in Glenn's pants 
pocket and a sandwich bag full of smaller bags of marijuana, a spokeswoman 
for the Marietta Police Department said.

Glenn did not appear in court on the charges from that case. As a result he 
was arrested in August 2000, according to the Cobb County Sheriff's 
Department. A month later, he was sentenced to a boot camp and released 
after the 90-day program.

Glenn's friends say that he doesn't do drugs, but they acknowledge that he 
did sell them.

"After a while when you got a record like that, there's nothing much else 
you can do," said a friend, Renee Bryant. "You got to survive somehow."

Over the years, Glenn has used his money to produce compact discs for a 
local rap group, friends said. He has bought clothes and food for mothers 
and children in the neighborhood, they said.

"He's the most giving person," Bryant said. "If there is anything you need, 
he is there."

Many people who know Glenn said they have never met his parents or family 
and that in the months before his latest arrest he moved around a lot.

"He's been on the streets a long time," Bryant said.

She and others said they believe that Glenn's intentions are good, even 
though things he has done are illegal.

And some in the neighborhood question Glenn's arrest on Aug. 19. They say 
that it's not uncommon for police to be suspicious about or question young 
black men walking or driving through the area.

"If you are an average young black man, the police automatically think you 
are involved in something wrong," said Edward Jones, 23, who often visits 
friends on 22nd Street. "Everybody is not guilty just because of how they 
look."

Jones, who is black, said that he has been pulled over and searched in the 
past because he was in a known drug area or with people who may have been 
arrested in the past.

"I'm not saying that all cops harass you," he said. "But it seems like they 
automatically think you got something on you."

The sheriff's deputies who arrested Glenn are part of the office's Highway 
Interdiction Team. They drive black Camaros and wear camouflage pants and 
combat boots.

The team's primary responsibilities are to monitor highways in the county 
for trucks with safety violations. But they also hunt for drunken drivers 
and work with the county's drug officers who get many calls for help inside 
the city limits, Barker said.

Residents had complained about the interdiction team before Glenn's arrest, 
Forsyth County Commissioner Walter Marshall said.

He said that the interdiction team, which is all-white, has a reputation 
for being a "bunch of renegades" who use questionable tactics.

"I don't know that I'd feel safe around them," Marshall, who is black, 
said. "Yes, people want their neighborhood cleaned up but they want it done 
in a humane way."

When Wells and Simpson arrested Glenn, his friends and relatives said that 
the actions of the sheriff's deputies were brutal.

The local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People said that Glenn's civil rights had been violated and 
launched its own investigation.

The deputies were removed from the streets to work in the radio room until 
the investigation is complete.

Residents also questioned why the officers were in the neighborhood that 
night, since their primary function is to track truckers.

At a meeting in August, sheriff's office officials told county 
commissioners that they were unsure why the deputies were in the area.

Sheriff's deputies and Winston-Salem police officers were present during 
Glenn's arrest.

Narcotics detectives with the police department and sheriff's office 
sometimes work together and share information on cases. But there are also 
times when they don't, officials said.

"That's what kind of bothers me," Marshall said. "If you are going to 
target an area you should be working together."

But sheriff's deputies have jurisdiction to make arrests throughout the 
county without contacting city police, Barker said.

"If anybody is engaged in illegal activities and an officer recognizes it, 
he or she will act on it," Barker said. "Whether it be a deputy sheriff or 
a Winston-Salem police officer."

'Can't have it both ways'

Mattie Young, the president of the Cleveland Avenue Homes Association, said 
that one of the problems is that people want law-enforcement protection but 
complain about the police when they're around.

"You can't have it both ways," Young said.

She said she and other members of the association have worked hard over the 
years to make a difference in their neighborhood, which is close to 
Cleveland and 21st.

Taking back their streets started with a campaign to let criminals know 
that they would not be tolerated, she said.

A major part of their strategy was an increased police presence.

"Most of the people who live in these houses are good law-abiding people 
who are forced to live where this goes on," said Sgt. David Lamb, of the 
Winston-Salem Police Department. "But to a degree, some of the problems are 
accepted behavior."

Mail carrier DeJuan Ogelsby has seen results of the efforts of community 
groups such as Young's and law-enforcement.

At one time, it wasn't safe to walk to his route, he said. Now he said he 
feels safe delivering letters on foot in the neighborhood.

"It's not as bad here as it used to be," Ogelsby, said. "There was a time 
when you couldn't even come up here it was so dangerous."

Neighborhood resident Liles said he feels safer, too.

"When I see a police car rolling easy down the street, I know I don't have 
to worry about stepping down to the corner," he said. "If it weren't for 
the police, we couldn't live."
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