DON'T FIXATE ON DRUG ARRESTS

Milwaukee mustn't get fixated on drug arrest numbers. Yes, for the second
year in a row, they've declined - a contrast to rising numbers in the rest
of the state. But in America's long drug war, a rising level of arrests has
simply not translated into a falling level of drug activity.

Try as they have, the police can't rid Milwaukee of illicit drugs. But the
police can and should minimize the pain the drug trade causes for the city.
For instance, those open-air drug markets drawing the ire of residents
ought to be a top police target - for the sake of closing down neighborhood
nuisances, not getting arrest numbers up. While the police can't eradicate
the drug trade here, it ought to come close to eradicating drug dealing out
in the open.

Also, the police should better satisfy complaints from residents about drug
houses, which, too, bring down neighborhoods.

Finally, of course, the police must crack down on violent drug activity.

Milwaukee should view police activity clear-eyed, however. The men and
women in blue will barely make a dent in the drug trade's volume. As
research by the Rand Corp. has found, treatment of drug addicts is a far
more effective way to curb drug use than is jailing dealers. Education to
keep kids from taking drugs in the first place also can lead to a drop in use.

Police Chief Arthur Jones believes that a personnel shake-up in the vice
squad may help explain the falling numbers. But once again, the numbers
count less than the dissatisfaction among residents about the persistence
of brazen drug trading in their neighborhoods. Jones should keep striving
to make them happy.

Meanwhile, other policy-makers must recognize that drug rehab counselors
are more effective than cops in shrinking the drug trade.