CURBING EAST TAMPA'S DRUG TRAFFIC

On a recent Monday afternoon, after the heavy rains stopped, drug
dealers returned to the streets of east Tampa. Even Florida's summer
storms are but a brief interruption of the scourge ruining this
predominantly black community.

This year, hoping to rid the drug presence, the city adopted a
"precursor" law, criminalizing any act that appears to be a drug
transaction in progress.

The new mayor, Pam Iorio, wasn't responsible for this election-year
gimmick, but using it could undermine her agenda.

Drug dealing is the single biggest problem in many east Tampa
neighborhoods. Traffic on some streets slows to a crawl as dealers and
lookouts flag buyers down. That's what makes the precursor law so
problematic. It's useful only as grounds for a fishing expedition when
police have no legitimate reason to intervene. Confronting people who
jump in and out of cars, drive around the block or pass small objects
in a "furtive fashion" might be useful if authorities didn't already
know precisely where Tampa's drug holes are, or if they didn't know
the dealers, customers and buying patterns that enable drug sales in
this part of town to flourish.

Iorio won't make a dent in east Tampa's drug trade with 60-day
sentences and $100 fines.

She needs effective undercover operations, a heavier everyday police
presence, a better method for arresting criminals with outstanding
warrants and an entirely new level of cooperation from law-abiding
residents in east Tampa. Serious police work - not cooking the numbers
with short-term arrests - is the only way to combat the drug trade and
the spinoffs of theft and violence.

Tampa police said they would move slowly with enforcement, because
officials want to learn from the first arrests whether the ordinance
will be found constitutional by the courts.

That's a valid concern; practicality is another.

None of the nearly 500 arrests during Iorio's recent crackdown on
drugs, prostitution and career crime in east Tampa were for violations
of the precursor drug ordinance.

It would be easy for City Hall to boost the arrest numbers and boast
of dealers taken off the street.

But the focus needs to be on building solid drug cases so the dealers
weeded out are not quickly replaced.

Iorio should follow up her successful May sweep with a plan that
addresses the core problems in east Tampa - poverty, vagrancy,
noncompliance with housing and safety codes.

Law enforcement is part of the picture, but the focus needs to be on
putting away major suppliers and the customers who drive in to buy
there. Leaving this job to the precursor law, or to the rain, may show
moments of anecdotal success, but it's hardly a serious strategy.