TO GET A HANDLE ON CRIME, JUST ASK RESEARCHER TELLS OF PROJECT SAFE

DURHAM -- Speaking in a city desperate to reduce violence, a renowned
researcher said that what has worked in cities as large as Boston is
simple: Ask criminals to stop. Harvard University researcher David M.
Kennedy told participants in the Violence Reduction Summit that the
strategy is cheap, immediate and dramatic. It has been adopted by the Bush
administration, and leaders from across the state met in Durham on
Wednesday to discuss their successes and ideas with Project Safe
Neighborhoods, as the approach is known nationwide.

In communities plagued by violence in recent years, notably Boston and
Rochester, N.Y., researchers have found that a small group of people --
sometimes 100 or fewer -- are responsible for a large number of crimes.

Cops on the street, whether in narcotics units or gang task forces, can
name the people likely to be perpetrators or victims. With no threat of
arrest, authorities invite them to a meeting and explain that if they do
not change their lives, they will be prosecuted as harshly as the law
allows. The police then stand aside and social workers, neighborhood
leaders, clergy and others offer to help them find jobs, homes and other
alternatives.

Prosecutors make an example of the first one of the bunch caught in a
crime. In city after city, researchers have found that one or two examples
are enough to get the word out. Homicides drop radically, as do other types
of crime.

The city of High Point has been using the strategy since 1997, making it
one of the most experienced in the country. With Kennedy's help, officials
there decided to target an open-air drug market, said Maj. Marty Sumner of
the High Point Police Department. Officers identified 20 people who were
responsible for all the drug dealing in a neighborhood. Police did
undercover buys and built cases but stopped short of signing arrest
warrants. Instead, they invited the suspects to a meeting Tuesday.

Nine came with family members. The police explained that they had cases on
all of them, and if any were dealing drugs starting Friday, they would be
prosecuted. They were then offered help from community agencies.

"A couple who where grown men were lit up by momma on their way out the
door," Sumner said.

The department is anxiously waiting to see what happens Friday, but Sumner
said the streets were free of prostitutes and dealers Wednesday morning. If
the strategy works, it will be cheaper than prosecuting individual dealers.
It also saves the police department from undertaking a military-style
operation in a neighborhood, serving search warrants in tactical gear.

Rob Faggart, Durham's Project Safe Neighborhoods coordinator, said similar
efforts have been under way here.

Kennedy likened traditional law enforcement methods to raising a puppy. The
way the system usually works he said, would be like scolding a puppy three
days or two weeks after it soiled the rug. After a year of belatedly and
sporadically trying to punish the dog, the owner then shoots it and
complains to a neighbor that puppies these days don't seem to have any
respect for authority.

"We do not provide consistent consequences," he said. "We provide
consequences like a lightning strike."