THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 1, 1996 TAG: 9601010043
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
At the end of a year that brought a record number of murders, Portsmouth residents don't view their hometown as much different from other cities of its size.
Crime made headlines, but 15 people who live in Portsmouth said that's not what their city is about. And they said the violent crime rate, higher than other Hampton Roads cities, is solvable.
During a two-hour discussion recently, the 15 residents said criminals win only through fear, and they suggested that people working together to stop drug dealing, burglaries and violence could overcome that fear.
``After the death of my son I refused to be locked up in my own house,'' said Mary Foreman, whose son was one of the city's 37 murder victims in 1995. ``I realized one thing - that the law is limited to what it can do . . . We have take our neighborhoods back and fear is really the main factor that keeps people from getting involved.''
People like brothers Joseph and Cephas Wright watch in frustration. The Wrights spend much of their free time as court spectators, following the cases of drug dealers who have operated in their neighborhood.
Sometimes, the dealers are back on the street before the Wrights get home, they said.
There are problems with the system: accused criminals who get court-appointed attorneys, yet can afford to pay bail; judges who set low bail for those accused of serious crimes; and criminals who know how to work the system.
Participants in the community conversation, initiated by The Virginian-Pilot, blamed the system for some problems - slow courts, for instance, mean that witnesses may forget details or disappear before a trial.
But more often folks aren't willing to testify.
That has to change, said Clyde Toler, who has worked with neighbors in Park View, urging them to call the police and to stand up to drug dealers.
After three years, changes were evident, Toler said. Now Park View is among the first neighborhoods in the city to have a new community policing program. The city recognized that residents were willing to work with police.
That's an about-face from three years ago, said former Vice Mayor Lee King, when some city officials were surprised to learn that Portsmouth neighborhood watch groups ranked among the top 10 in the nation.
Leaders must be ``out there'' involved in the community, said William Chambers, who lives in the Brighton/Prentis Park area. ``They can't make a proper decision without an understanding as to what is going on.''
There is hope that with the government and community working together, Portsmouth's violent crime rate will drop significantly.
``Portsmouth is going to get better,'' said Joseph Wright of Port Norfolk. ``We're at rock bottom right now - this 37 murders is no fluke. When this community-police system takes over this entire city, crime is going to drop. Now whether the system's going to change or not is another thing - but crime in Portsmouth is going to drop.
``I'm not saying that we're going to cure the drug problem. We may just run those drug dealers to Chesapeake.''
Running dealers to another city is not the answer, participants agreed, but it's better than having crime concentrated in Portsmouth. The real answer, they said, is to put repeat offenders away and to work on Portsmouth's social ills, like teen pregnancy and poverty. They also said that if upper- and middle-class people weren't buying the drugs, the trade would dry up.
King, who lives in Cavalier Manor, said the drug problem cuts across income lines.
``This is just cold hard facts and people don't want to face up to it,'' he said. ``We talk about drugs and we talk about crimes and all we look at is the guys that stand on the corner and hang out in public housing.''
Participants expressed confidence that Portsmouth could lessen the drug problem, but less faith that domestic violence could be tamed. Police have tied 10 of the 1995 murders directly to drugs, and domestic violence accounts for a significant number of them as well.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has assigned a special violent crimes task force to Portsmouth. That task force has already indicted an alleged drug gang from the River Edge Apartment complex.
Discussion participants said they believe that if neighbors would get to know each other, and neighborhoods would work together and share information, crime could be curbed. They also stressed the need for involvement by churches.
``When you have a city like Portsmouth with 103,000 people and you've got 187 churches in this city, things should be better,'' King said. ``There are some churches doing great work, but the majority of them are not doing anything in terms of outreach, in terms of providing the spiritual guidance that the community really needs. That is a serious problem . . . there is no way you can get around that.''
Many of the participants see in Portsmouth's future the need for a community of people watching out for each other.
``It's written that it takes a whole tribe to educate one African child,'' said Joseph Wright. ``It takes a whole community to fight crime and to make the community as good as it can be. Everybody has to get involved, children, old people, everybody. If you see something working, then jump on it.'' MEMO: Staff writer Katrice Franklin contributed to this report.
A citywide crime-fighting meeting will be held Jan. 20 from 1 p.m. to
6:30 p.m. at Hunt-Mapp Middle School, 3701 Willett Drive. To register,
call 399-5261, Ext. 275, no later than Jan. 10.
KEYWORDS: CRIME MURDER COMMUNITY CONVERSATION by CNB