TAKING BACK CHARLESTON'S STREETS

Those chronic criminals who have long operated with near impunity by
intimidating entire neighborhoods in Charleston should take note:
Law-abiding residents are increasingly ready, willing and able to resist
your bullying tactics. Another indication of that welcome trend came this
week with the opening of "Operation Neighborhood," a wide-ranging
initiative by the city of Charleston that includes intensified efforts -
from both residents and law enforcement - to make drug dealing and related
offenses losing propositions in communities where such lawlessness
previously thrived. As Wednesday's Post and Courier reported, the operation
started this week with a drug bust and strengthened police patrols in a
community that lies between Cannon Street and the Crosstown Expressway. As
the Rev. Sidney Davis, head of that community's neighborhood association,
explained: "Like the East Side community, Cannonborough/Elliottborough will
no longer be a safe haven for drug dealers or those who do criminal
behavior. This is what happens ... when you stand up and take charge of
your life." And an encouraging pattern of communities taking action against
criminals is what happens when one neighborhood - such as the East Side -
sets a good example for other neighborhoods. Charleston Mayor Joseph P.
Riley Jr. praised the Cannonborough/Elliottborough leaders and residents:
"They have stood up, they've been counted, and criminals are going to jail.
We are taking back our streets; we are taking back this neighborhood."
However, Operation Neighborhood isn't confined to targeting dope
traffickers. It's broadly aimed at all "quality of life" issues. The mayor
said nearly 100 citations have recently been issued for code violations,
such as improper disposal of garbage. Many of those code-violation cases
will go to the city's Livability Court - and will underline the city's
determination to make Charleston more "livable" for its residents.
Meanwhile, drug dealers in all Charleston neighborhoods should realize that
business as usual is coming, or has come, to an end. The growing
willingness - the growing courage - of residents to report drug activity to
city narcotics officers at 720-3937 or 554-1111 is making a positive
difference. Though the profit motive will continue to power the illegal
drug market, good people in Charleston appear primed to continue pressing
this ongoing battle against the criminals who have pushed dope on their
streets - and pushed law-abiding citizens around - for far too long.