BESIEGED POLICE IN E. ST. LOUIS GET BOOST

A spike in drug-related crime in downtrodden East St. Louis and a
manpower shortage in the city Police Department have prompted the
Illinois State Police and several other agencies to step in and help
patrol the city.

For more than two years, the State Police have been helping East St.
Louis investigate its homicides. When drug-related crime increased
last month, Illinois State Police Capt. Craig Koehler contacted East
St. Louis Police Chief James Mister with an offer to form a task force
of officers from the State Police and other agencies, including the
FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service
and the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwest Illinois.

"We are helping East St. Louis buy some time until they get more
officers," Koehler said. "We are committed to East St. Louis getting
its feet back on the ground. We are hoping they can get the point
across to hire more officers, and we can pull out."

East St. Louis has long been synonymous with a city in decline. The
city's population fell 23 percent from 1990 to 2000, from 40,900 to
31,500. And high unemployment, poverty, crime and corruption continue
to beset the beleaguered community.

On Tuesday, though, state troopers were out in force. Residents waved
and bowed their heads as Trooper Brent Beltz, an 11-year veteran,
drove past. One man using a long, thin stick as a cane waved it in the
air as Beltz drove by.

"I had two elderly people walk up and say that they were glad to see
the State Police in the area," Beltz said. "That makes you feel pretty
good."

Meanwhile, the violence continues. The body of Marlon D. Haynes, 33,
of Springfield, Ill., was found Monday in the 1600 block of Piggott
Avenue. Haynes formerly lived in East St. Louis.

Investigators are attempting to locate two vehicles seen in the area
when Haynes was shot. One of the vehicles was reported to be a light
blue or gray 1980s or early 1990s Dodge Caravan with wood-grain side
panels, and the other an AMC Gremlin or AMC Pacer, of unknown color,
with a loud muffler.

East St. Louis police Officer Rudy McIntosh, a former deputy chief,
said the additional patrol help is badly needed.

"The only way this city is going to be saved, though, is with some
aggressive police tactics," he said. "I mean, it's wide open down here
with the drug trade. We just had another homicide. Everybody is
carrying guns. It's like the wild, wild West here. Until law
enforcement gets control of the situation, we are in bad shape."

East St. Louis police Officer DeAngelo Franklin, a 12-year veteran of
the force and a state Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 126
representative, said about 60 officers are on the city police force
now. At times, only three or four officers are on patrol, and the
number occasionally drops to just two, he added.

He said that when he was hired, there were 110 officers, but because
of retirements and early retirement packages in 1997 and 1999, the
number has dwindled.

Granite City, about the same size as East St. Louis, has 55 police
officers but less crime.

Franklin said officers constantly worry about their safety when
patrolling.

"We constantly pray that we end our shift the same way we started our
shift: intact," he said softly.

Koehler said that on any given day, the task force is adding from
eight to as many as 30 officers.

Mister, the East St. Louis police chief, said the city is working to
hire officers. He said the department is down 10 officers from last
year.

"That's a whole shift," he said. "It does make a difference."

The U.S. Marshals Service is rounding up fugitives and checking to
make sure convicted sex offenders are registered. The Metropolitan
Enforcement Group of Southwest Illinois has been asked to focus
efforts on East St. Louis for the next six months. And there is a plan
to add a police detail that will patrol the city's low income housing
complexes.

Meanwhile, Koehler plans to meet with Mister and East St. Louis NAACP
Chapter President Johnny Scott this week in an attempt to reverse the
tide of gun-toting youths.

"We have to get the guns out of the hands of the 16-, 17- and
18-year-old males who don't realize the long-term damage that it is
doing to their lives and other lives," Koehler said. "They are going
to end up dead or in prison."

Koehler said there is no timetable on how long the extra officers will
be working in the city.

"As long as we need to," he said.