WAR ON DRUGS PAYING OFF, NEW ALBANY RESIDENTS SAY

Crime in housing complex is down since arrests in 2001

An 18-month investigation dubbed Operation Bulldog - which resulted in drug
charges against 58 people - has reduced illegal drug activity and related
crimes in New Albany's public housing, police and residents of one housing
complex say.

Undercover officers made more than 100 purchases of crack cocaine during the
operation, which ended with the arrests in August 2001.

Since then, 26 federal defendants have been convicted on charges related to
cocaine distribution, said Susan Brooks, U.S. attorney for the Southern
District of Indiana. One other federal defendant died while his trial was
pending, and two are fugitives. Another 29 people were charged in Clark and
Floyd county courts.

Brooks held a press conference at the Parkview Broadmeade housing complex
yesterday, now that proceedings against all the federal defendants are over,
to talk about the results of Operation Bulldog.

Brooks said the constant drug trafficking at Parkview Broadmeade "was
terrorizing this neighborhood." There was a lot of gun violence, and bullets
were falling at the feet of children," she said.

Residents of the housing complex say the crackdown has made a big difference
in everyday life.

"Now we can go to the store (and) we can sit out on the yard without
worrying about bullets, without worrying about drugs," said Joyce Humphrey,
who has lived in the Parkview Broadmeade complex for 27 years and is
president of its tenants association.

Operation Bulldog was accomplished with the help of undercover officers of
the FBI, the New Albany Police Department and the Southern Indiana Drug Task
Force. The Indianapolis Police Department, the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration and the Internal Revenue Service also took part.

New Albany police say they are trying to preserve the gains through a
housing authority policy of evicting troublemakers. "If we have somebody out
here causing problems we have the authority to ban them," said Assistant
Police Chief Tony Downs.

Downs recalled the atmosphere in the complex during the undercover
investigation: "I called it thugging, mugging and drugging because that's
what they were doing," he said.

"Of course we haven't eliminated drugs," he said, "but we've gone a long way
toward making this city a safer place to live."

Police now have a substation at the complex with three officers dedicated to
patrolling all four New Albany public housing complexes.

"It's nice to look back and see you have the police cars there (and) the
protection there," resident Tigre Dietrich said.

Edna Rainer, who has lived in Parkview Broadmeade for 23 years and is
secretary of the tenants association, said, "I feel comfortable now."

Mayor Regina Overton described Aug. 16, 2001 - the day more than 200
law-officers fanned out to make arrests in the investigation - as "a
defining day in New Albany's crime-fighting history."

In addition to public housing complexes, investigators say defendants in
Operation Bulldog sold drugs at Mount Tabor and Lillian Emery elementary
schools, Jeffersonville High School, Indiana University Southeast and on
several playgrounds.

All of those are special areas that bring tougher penalties for drug
dealers.

The convicted drug traffickers have been sentenced to a combined total of
more than 234 years in prison.