GASTONIA - A person who slides into the backseat of a police cruiser usually finds the trip leads to one place: jail.

But for the community policing unit of the Gastonia Police Department this spring, their patrol cruisers provided a helping hand to the down-and-out.

The unit targeted downtown in response to increased crime there last fall. Merchants were concerned about break-ins, trash and vagrants hanging around Main Avenue.

The unit intensified patrols downtown and noticed homeless people contributed to much of the activity downtown.

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GASTONIA -- Dementrica Doster needs one thing before she can let her 3-year-old daughter play outside her Crescent Lane apartment.

"Get all the drug dealers and bad people away from here," said Doster, 18.

The apartment buildings occupy a broken up parking lot off Crescent Lane. Boarded up windows greet visitors.

Doster may soon get some help. The Crescent Lane area, along with four other West Gastonia neighborhoods, have been named a "Weed and Seed" site by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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