ASHEVILLE STEPS UP ITS OWN WAR ON DRUGS

New Focus Nets More Arrests

ASHEVILLE -- One building at a time, city police are learning where drug
dealers live and where they sell.

Police have made more than 300 arrests in the five months since new Chief
Bill Hogan formed a 14-officer drug suppression unit, following directions
from City Council to cut drug crime.

Since Aug. 1, the numbers of felony drug arrests per month have increased
33 percent, while the number of misdemeanor drug charges per month has
increased 17 percent. Police have averaged 35 felony drug arrests per
month, up from 26 from before Aug. 1.

Police also have won a streak of court convictions as part of an initiative
that has officers assigned to watch over specific buildings in public
housing developments.

"It makes my day when I see them out here, with all this junk going on
around here," said Deaverview resident Carolyn Webber, who has an
18-year-old son who she doesn't plan to lose to drugs. "I have no problem
with them being out here as long as they are doing their job and not
harassing people."

Since Aug. 1, five people were sentenced in drug-related crimes, two of
those being habitual felons who received more than eight years in prison.

Hogan took office June 14 and started his drug suppression plan Aug. 1,
which came after a lengthy City Council battle on how to cut drugs in
public housing areas, where about 4,000 people live.

The move followed City Council passage last year of the Safe Neighborhoods
Initiative, which sent money to cut crime while adding social programs such
as tutoring for children.

The initiative includes: $250,000 for five police officers and equipment,
$50,000 to expand community policing efforts, $50,000 for a summer youth
program, $50,000 for an educational tutoring program and $200,000 to
improve infrastructure in areas that could support affordable housing.

"We have to figure out who the drug dealers are, how they operate, and what
their spear of influence is," said Asheville police Lt. Tim Splain, who is
working with the drug suppression unit. "They are operating a criminal
enterprise. We need to learn more about that business so we can dismantle it."

Michael Godwin, director of the Asheville Housing Authority, said that
police are doing a good job in getting involved.

"Assigning officers to go out and talk to residents is a real positive
effort because community policing is so important," Godwin said.

Public Housing Residents Council President Trena Boyd agreed that Hogan's
new plan seems to be working.

"I think (Hogan) has done an excellent job in stepping up the enforcement,"
said Boyd, who lives in Livingston Apartments. With an officer assigned to
each building in every public housing complex, Boyd said she has seen
police a lot lately.

Asheville police pulled out of a drug investigation partnership in December
that included two other law enforcement agencies so detectives could better
home in on the city's crack cocaine problem.

The Metropolitan Enforcement Group had four Asheville detectives in its
12-agent force, which has seized drugs valued at nearly $5 million in
Asheville and Buncombe County from January through October last year.

Those four detectives are now working with the drug suppression unit. The
benefit for the suppression team is that it is able to get through the
arresting process much quicker, Splain said.

With the help of District Attorney Ron Moore and U.S. Attorney for the
Western District of North Carolina Gretchen Shappert, police are also
seeking the highest sentence possible under the law for prosecuting drug
offenders.

The first five court cases represent the beginning of the "rest of the
story," Asheville police public information officer John Dankel said.