POLICE SWEEP LEAVES UNEASE

DURHAM - On Feb. 15, Jay Robinson stepped outside his townhouse at the
Cheek Road Apartments en route to a belated Valentine's Day dinner with his
girlfriend. Durham police had other plans.

"I was thrown against the wall and searched," said Robinson, 24, a
three-year resident of 1835 Cheek Road. "I've never been in any trouble
before. I don't have a criminal record, and they searched my house without
a warrant. I felt violated. The police intentions were good, but the way
they did it was wrong."

A Superior Court judge agreed earlier this month, ruling that the massive
drug raid staged Feb. 15 and 16 by the Durham Police Department went too
far. Judge Orlando Hudson's ruling that the aggressive searches were
unconstitutional led District Attorney Jim Hardin to drop charges against
the people charged in the raid.

Today, residents of the 100-apartment complex in East Durham are still
coming to grips with the two-day police lockdown that aimed to drown out
drug dealing and violence. The two-story, maroon-shingled apartments, which
are subsidized by the federal government, are set back from Cheek Road and
have long been a familiar address for police. It's a place where residents
keep their front doors open, not because they feel safe, but because they
don't have air conditioning.

The police department's internal investigation of the raid reported in
March that it was "viewed positively, and it generated good results and
fostered an improved community spirit."

Residents interviewed Thursday said they welcome anyone who can get rid of
the young people selling drugs in the parking lot, getting into arguments
and flashing guns. But the way the police conducted themselves in the
biggest operation of its kind swept away any good it might have done, they
said.

"How are you going to bring helicopters and all those police when you only
have six or seven search warrants?" said Kit Taborn, 21. "It just didn't
take all that."

Neither Robinson, Taborn nor Patsy Sales was charged with a crime, but they
feel as if everyone was treated as a criminal.

"I was handcuffed and made to sit on the ground for 55 minutes,"said Sales,
38, a nine-year resident of the complex. "A gun was put to my head, and a
television camera was stuck in my face. That's how my mama knew I was
involved in this."

The Durham branch of the NAACP is helping organize residents, who are
naming block captains to monitor and report anything suspicious.

"Police presence in a community is a deterrent to crime, and we understand
the need for police," said the Rev. Curtis Gatewood, president of the
Durham NAACP. "At the same time, the NAACP is saying a community does not
have to compromise its rights just to get police assistance."

Sales said that if the city wanted to help, it could start by helping to
clean up the complex. At the entrance are two abandoned shopping carts.
Trash is littered all around, and the grass in some areas is knee-high.

"It's like we are thrown away or lost like a bunch of roaches," Sales said.
"A lot of us don't know about our rights, but we do have rights."