Pubdate: Tue, 09 Jul 2002
Source: Delta Democrat Times (MS)
Copyright: 2002 Delta Democrat Times
Contact:  http://www.ddtonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2123

NEEDED RESPONSE TO DRUGS

Greenville Police Department Develops An Aggressive Enforcement Plan

The illegal drug trade has always been the scourge of any community, so 
what is engulfing Greenville these days is certainly not the exception to 
the law enforcement rule.

However, city, county and state law enforcement agencies appear to be 
readying a response to rid the streets of the thugs and drug dysfunction, 
which ply their trade in our neighborhoods.

Perhaps the arrest on Monday - by members of the Greenville Police 
Department, Washington County Sheriff's Department and the state Bureau of 
Narcotics - of a reported Greenville firefighter on drug trafficking 
charges is the long-awaited beginning of an aggressive antiphon to what we 
see as a runaway illegal drug train with no motorman at the controls.

"We are aware that there is a problem in the area," Greenville Police Chief 
Lon Pepper Jr. said Monday during an editorial board meeting with the Delta 
Democrat Times. "We need good citizens to come forward with information we 
can use to build cases and make arrests."

Mayor Paul Artman Jr., Councilwoman Audine Haynes, Maj. Lester Carter and 
Capt. James Tutor, commander of the Police Department's Special Operations 
Unit, said the city is going to see changes in the way the flourishing 
illegal drug trade is being addressed. We certainly hope so.

Even though law enforcement is making a good-faith effort to reach out to 
the community, nevertheless, there is an obvious chasm of distrust between 
law enforcement and residents, which is not exclusive to Greenville. While 
residents desire help, they do not want to get involved because many fear 
physical reprisals from the low-lifes they demand be driven from the 
neighborhood.

So the Greenville Police Department - through no fault of its own - is 
placed in a Catch 22 situation. "It is a matter of building trust," Pepper 
said. "But we need the involvement of the citizens."

But building confidence takes time, and the Greenville Police Department 
does not have that luxury. The illegal drug problem needs aggressive law 
enforcement action, and it is required now.

In recent weeks, residents living near Mulberry and Ohio streets have 
complained bitterly about the so-called "open air drug bazaar" operating in 
their neighborhood that goes unabated. It is an illegal enterprise that is 
placing residents at risk of the mayhem and lawlessness associated with 
illicit drugs, especially late at night.

But the Mulberry-Ohio neighborhood is not the only Greenville community 
being relentlessly assaulted by illegal drugs. We are sure many communities 
in the city have a harrowing story to tell - be it crack cocaine in the 
African-American community to crystal methamphetamine in the Caucasian 
community.

As we see it, there must be a concerted law enforcement response that shows 
the public that authorities are serious in addressing this epidemic that 
threatens the future of our youth. Anything less is not acceptable.
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