MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Police Pool Resources To Quell Crime Trends

Richmond Officers And Contra Costa County Sheriff's Deputies Combat Gun
Possession, Drug Dealing, Gang Violence

RICHMOND -- The patrol cars rolling through the Easter Hill housing
project are greeted by the sound of horns -- neighbors blaring the
warning that the new team is on the prowl.

They know these aren't just officers on the beat, but a special
contingent of sheriff's deputies and police officers conducting targeted
sweeps to quell drug-related violence.

Dubbed Operation Twin Towers, the team draws officers from Richmond's
METRO Team and deputies from the Contra Costa County sheriff's Justice
Team, both special units assigned to crack down on identified crime
trends, including drug dealing, gun possession and gang violence.

The joint effort also pulls in vice investigators to conduct interviews,
obtain search warrants and work surveillance; homicide investigators to
share suspect information; and undercover officers to find new
informants.

"Things roll real well when all the units work together," said Richmond
police Lt. Dave O'Donnell.

"Say someone on the team finds a gun. They can turn it over to
intelligence, who can do interviews and get a search warrant. Then,
another unit can go into the suspicious house, look for contraband, dope
or guns, etc. There is no red tape and things happen quickly."

Twin Towers was launched in February in response to drug turf wars that
flared in the city's south side last December, said Richmond police
Capt. Terry Hudson.

Chief Joseph Samuels asked for help from Sheriff Warren Rupf after three
teen-age boys were killed by gunfire in three weeks. The nine-member
METRO Team didn't have the resources to work around the clock and the
crooks knew their days off, Hudson said.

"These guys needed manpower seven days a week," said Sgt. Chris Thorsen,
a member of the Justice Team.

The Twin Towers team often travels together, usually in three cars, one
with a drug-sniffing dog named Kymber. The sweeps focus on Easter Hill,
the Crescent Park Apartments, South 45th Street and other areas with a
history of violence.

"It takes a few hours for word to get out that we're out, and then we
usually split up," said METRO Sgt. Anthony Williams.

Six to nine officers work each 10-hour shift, checking identification
and running names to search for outstanding warrants and parole
violations. They are freed from the usual nonemergency service calls and
reports.

"They are not running around blind but going to specific places to look
for specific people," O'Donnell said. "It is a suppression effort that
never lets up, and it's working."

In less than two months, the Twin Towers team arrested 171 people, the
majority for drug possession and sales. Police have conducted more than
100 interviews, increasing their intelligence about gangs in the area,
Hudson said.

The team saw a 223 percent increase in arrests compared to those made by
METRO alone, a 50 percent jump in traffic citations and a 75 percent
increase in vehicles towed.

Hudson also credits the team's presence in high-crime neighborhoods with
a drop in reported robberies and burglaries in February.

Lauren Thompson, a 28-year resident of the Crescent Park Apartments,
said crime has virtually disappeared in the complex in the past few
months.

"I don't know what they are doing or where these cops came from, but it
is working," she said. "It's been so quiet. It's like night and day,
that's how much it has cleared up in here. It is just wonderful."

O'Donnell admits the sheriff's Justice Team eventually will have to
leave, but said the seven-days-a-week model has proven so successful
that a similar one likely will be put in place using Richmond officers.

The department, which had 20 vacancies nine months ago, now has four,
said Sgt. Enos Johnson. He expects a full staff of 189 officers before
the end of May.

"We will redesign assignments once we get all the new people in,"
O'Donnell said. "We would be hard-pressed to abandon a method that has
reduced violence like this."