WE MUST FIGHT DRUG SCOURGE MORE THAN EVER

Illegal drug dealing and associated violence are victimizing our city
and its citizens - particularly our youth - like never before. More
than 75 homicides and hundreds of shootings in 2003 paint a stark
picture of the challenge before us. Beyond the tragedy of each crime,
our sense of community will quickly die amid this climate of violence
and open-air dealing. I've met too many seniors who feel trapped in
their homes, and too many parents who won't let their children play on
their own street.

As the new chairman of the Law and Public Safety Committee, my first
priority is to work to aggressively tackle this troubling crime spree.
A column in the Dec. 27 Enquirer ("We all lose with failed war on
drugs") called on us to do the opposite - begging our citizens and
elected officials to cease fighting the scourge of illegal drugs, and
criticizing my efforts to rid our neighborhoods of the violence and
drug dealing. Given what's at stake, I will not back off on these
efforts - and I hope more citizens, not fewer, will stand vigilant as
well.

Counter to the column, my agenda of how to combat this violence and
drug-dealing activity does not simply propose more of the same.
Rather, it includes new community-based solutions and preventive
steps, an ongoing assessment of policing strategies and their results,
and an examination of proactive policing strategies that are working
in other cities. I also plan "safety summits" in the neighborhoods
that face the worst crime.

By policing proactively, targeting the most violent offenders and
crime hot spots using new technologies, and empowering communities to
stand up for their own safety, other cities have made dramatic
progress. Rather than give up, we must work like never before to
deliver the same results here. The future of our city depends on it.