
DATE: Tuesday, March 11, 1997               TAG: 9702270655

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B03  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: PUBLIC SAFETY

SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER AND NAOMI AOKI, STAFF WRITERS 

                                            LENGTH:  132 lines

THE DRUG TRADE MOVES INDOORS PORTSMOUTH, WITH MORE OPEN-AIR DRUG MARKETS, HAD THE HIGHEST RATE OF SALES ARRESTS IN 1995.

One-fourth of the drug dealers picked up in South Hampton Roads in 1995 were arrested in Portsmouth, even though only one in 10 of the region's residents lives there.

Those numbers seem to bolster the city's reputation as a drug haven.

But local law enforcement officials say the high number of drug dealers arrested in Portsmouth may be misleading.

Portsmouth simply has more open-air drug markets than other cities, some officials say. In other cities, the drug trade has largely moved indoors, out of public view, law enforcement officers say.

``There are more open-air markets in Portsmouth,'' Virginia Beach police Sgt. Neil Thompson explained. ``When you have open-air markets like that - dealers selling small quantities to lots of people out in the open - it's easy to get lots of sales arrests.''

In Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk and Norfolk - a city once known for its bustling street trade - detectives say most dealers have moved their businesses off the streets. They are taking cover inside houses and using cell phones and pagers to communicate with their customers. As a result, dealers in these cities are more difficult to find.

``(The drug trade) is not just a one-city problem,'' said Chesapeake narcotics Lt. Andy Powers. ``It's an area problem.''

While the activity may be less visible in much of the region, detectives say the drug trade hasn't gone away. It won't go away, they say, until demand for the drugs dries up.

Analysis of FBI arrest data points instead to a growing demand. More than 4,600 people were arrested in 1995 for having cocaine, marijuana or other illegal drugs in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. That was up from about 3,700 in 1994.

In addition, about 800 people were arrested for drug sales in 1995 compared with about 700 in 1994. Marijuana accounted for the increase in arrests. While arrests for buying or selling marijuana increased 26 percent in 1995, cocaine arrests dropped 3 percent.

Although experts say arrest numbers may not be the best indicator of how a city is faring in the drug war, they do provide a snapshot of regional differences and trouble spots.

Here are some statistics and observations from 1995:

Chesapeake had the lowest rate of sales arrests but the highest rate of possession arrests. For every person arrested for dealing drugs, 15 were arrested for possession.

Chesapeake police Lt. Andy Powers said the city's possession arrest rate may be high because the narcotics squad does many reverse-sting operations, in which undercover police officers pose as drug dealers to catch buyers.

Also, Powers said jurisdictions might be using different standards for determining the charge. Given the same circumstances, one department might charge someone with possession while another might charge them with possession with intent to distribute.

In contrast to Chesapeake's numbers, Portsmouth had the region's highest rate of sales arrests but an average rate of possession arrests. The ratio of sales arrests to possession arrests was 1 to 3.

Also, in Portsmouth, 80 percent of all drug arrests were for possession or sale of cocaine. Regionally, nearly 40 percent of all drug arrests involved cocaine and another 50 percent were for marijuana.

``Our goal is to make it very difficult for (dealers) to continue their business in Portsmouth,'' said Portsmouth narcotics Lt. Kenneth Davis. ``And hopefully, we can even make them think twice before they come over here.''

But Portsmouth police offered little insight into why their arrests far outpaced the other cities.

``Do I think we have more (open-air drug markets) than the other cities? . of a problem in Portsmouth than in other cities from the numbers.''

Narcotics investigators in other cities, however, say they think Portsmouth's open-air drug markets probably are driving drug-sales arrests numbers up. Dealers work out in the open, making them easy to spot and arrest.

Thomas said open-air markets popped up in Virginia Beach in the early 1990s, but most of them have been driven indoors. Chesapeake police Lt. Andy Powers and Norfolk police Capt. Bill Carrow said they have seen similar shifts in their cities in the last couple years.

Portsmouth residents have complained for years that they are bearing the brunt of the region's drug habit, saying people from Chesapeake, Norfolk, Suffolk and Virginia Beach come to Portsmouth to buy drugs.

But police disagree, saying residents in their cities don't regularly go to Portsmouth for drugs.

``People from the Beach don't like going to Norfolk, Portsmouth or other places,'' Thompson said. ``They will go if that's the only place they can score, but that is not the preference.''

Thompson said most people buying drugs would rather deal with someone close to home, someone they know and can trust.

Dealers, on the other hand, do cross city lines when they feel the heat. Enforcement efforts in one city often bump dealers into a bordering city; then another crackdown will send them back across the border.

``That's why we do a lot of joint task forces where we go in with Norfolk and Portsmouth and each concentrates on their side of the city simultaneously,'' Powers said.

It is an uphill battle, but there is cause for hope.

Detectives say the cities are already working well together. They are trying to tackle the problem on all fronts: education programs like D.A.R.E. to prevent children from using drugs, raids and reverse-sting operations to bust up crack houses and open-air markets, and investigations of high-level dealers to bring down networks of dealers.

And while the battle is uphill, there are some successes.

In Lincoln Park, a Portsmouth public housing community, residents say a community police officer has made a difference.

A year ago, there were three or four dealers on every corner and strung-out addicts wandered the streets.

``There was a time I was afraid to walk outside,'' said one resident, who asked to remain nameless for fear of harassment. ``There were too many out here.. . . They didn't have no shame - they didn't even hardly run from the police.''

But when community police officer Bruce World moved in, the landscape began to change. Everything from drug activity to homicides has decreased. There is better lighting, more community involvement and less fear.

``For the most part, when I'm out in the area, you don't see it wide open,'' World said. ``We're just trying hard to lessen the amount of drugs in the area.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Photo]

LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

A NEW WORLD: Community policing has helped at least one community -

Lincoln Park. Since police officer Bruce World, above, was assigned

to the Portsmouth public housing community, drug activity has

decreased, and there is more neighborhood involvement and less fear.

``We're just trying hard to lessen the amount of drugs in the

area,'' World said.

[Graphic]

BUYING AND SELLING DRUGS IN SOUTH HAMPTON ROADS

SOURCE: Analysis of FBI arrest data by The Virginian-Pilot

[For copy of graphic, see microfilm] KEYWORDS: DRUG DEALERS DRUG ARRESTS