MISS. BUREAU OF NARCOTICS TARGETS DRUG HOT SPOTS

Fifteen Officers Blanket Neighborhood; Marijuana, Guns, Stolen Car Seized

The rain was the only thing keeping children who live near Corinth and
Lynch streets from playing outside Friday. The drug dealers who normally
roam the area were gone.

The west Jackson intersection is the latest target of the Mississippi
Bureau of Narcotics' Operation Safe Schools/Safe Neighborhoods.

"You can tell those kids that they can come out and play," bureau Director
Frank Melton said to a mother who lives near the intersection.

"Ain't nobody going to bother them," said Melton, who carried a shotgun and
wore a bullet-resistant vest.

The idea behind the program, started in December, is to establish a
high-profile law enforcement presence in areas known to be popular
drug-trafficking spots. Melton said 15 officers were at Lynch and Corinth
streets from 1 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. Friday.

"Every time we come down here, we make arrests," Melton said shortly after
MBN agents blanketed the streets at about 1 p.m. MBN officers have made
eight arrests in the area since the program began, he said.

On Friday, agents seized a pound of marijuana, two cars, an assault rifle
and a shotgun from an apartment on Corinth Street, MBN spokeswoman Delores
Lewis said. One of the cars was found to be stolen.

Melton said he is seeking a warrant charging one person, whom he would not
name, with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

Daljit Singh, a cashier at a neighborhood convenience store, welcomes the
increased police presence.

"When drug dealers are in front (in the store's parking lot), no one nice
comes in the store," Singh said.

Singh, 39, hopes the drug dealers leave for good, but past experience makes
him skeptical.

"Police come, and (the drug dealers) leave," Singh said. "When police
leave, (the drug dealers) come back."

Officers will remain in the area for another week, Melton said. Cameras
have been set up in the neighborhood and will remain for MBN to continually
monitor the area, he said.

Alfred Martin Jr. owns several rental properties in the area. He sent a
letter May 13 to Jackson Police Chief Robert Moore and several state law
enforcement officials, including Melton, voicing his concern about crime in
the neighborhood.

"I've got good tenants over there, but they're scared to come outside,"
Martin said Friday.

Jackson Police Department spokesman Robert Graham said Jackson police are
working with MBN to rid the area of drug dealers.

Martin said that he is satisfied with the response he has received. "I'm
just a guy trying to protect an investment," Martin said.