Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 4, 1991 TAG: 9102040343
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-6 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Lynchburg Police Cmdr. Gary Reynolds said the arrests came as a result of a working relationship between the Police Department and citizens of the black community in an attempt to rid the city of drug traffic.
Mark Keith Jackson, 21, and Cecil Lamont Gilbert, 18, are charged with distributing cocaine. Gilbert, a senior at E.C. Glass High School, also was charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
Reynolds said both busts took place in the White Rock Hill section of the city. Gilbert was arrested on Saturday and Jackson on Sunday after plainclothes police officers watched drug transactions.
Jackson, who was charged with possessing 35 rocks of crack cocaine and $1,200 in cash, was being held in the Lynchburg jail in lieu of a $25,000 bond. Gilbert, accused of possessing 15 rocks of crack cocaine and a knife with an 8-inch blade in his pocket, was being held on $10,000 bond.
Reynolds said information leading to the weekend arrests came through citizens groups such as Neighborhood Watch.
"It has provided us with information about when citizens are seeing drug transactions," Reynolds said. "Their information has been 100 percent correct."
Junius Haskins, president of the Lynchburg NAACP, credits the Police Department with being open to concerns in Lynchburg's black community.
"Together, we are sending a signal that we don't want this damn garbage in our neighborhoods," he said in a telephone interview Sunday night. "We have an open relationship because our Police Department comes into the community rather than the community being forced to come into the Police Department."
by CNB