CITIZENS, CITY POLICE TEAM UP AGAINST DRUG TRADE

Citizens will patrol drug-infested neighborhoods with Rochester police,
drug buyers will get letters from police and suspected drug dealers will
get a knock on their door from police.

Those are some of the plans Rochester Police Chief Robert Duffy unveiled
Wednesday as part of a progress report on plans to fight the illegal drug
problem here. The announcement came five months after a daylong forum on
illegal drugs.

"We cannot fix a problem that has gone on for 100 years, but we can make
great gains in Rochester," Duffy said during a meeting with the Democrat
and Chronicle editorial board. "This is a marathon."

Duffy convened a "Summit on Illegal Drugs" in December with about 120
participants from a broad spectrum -- including law enforcement, education,
treatment and prevention -- to come up with ideas to tackle the drug problem.

Ideas developed since then, which Duffy discussed Wednesday, include:

* Community Response Teams, with police and residents blitzing
drug-infested neighborhoods. The citizens will try to disrupt drug dealing
on street corners and at drug houses by speaking with people on the streets
and reporting back to police. Some citizens will have video cameras.

That strategy starts Tuesday, when graduates of the Rochester Police
Department's Citizens Police Academy and Clergy Police Academy, along with
members of Police And Citizens Together Against Crime, will hit parts of
northeast, northwest and southwest Rochester.

* A "knock-and-talk" approach, with police knocking on doors of suspected
drug houses and letting people inside know police are watching them.

* Sending letters to residents whose vehicles are spotted in areas with
rampant drug dealing. Duffy said he has sent about 120 letters. Only one
person has responded and said he was not buying drugs.

* Hiring an expert to help craft an anti-drug strategy. Working with high
school dropouts to keep them away from drugs.

* Redirecting money and property seized from drug dealers toward treatment,
prevention and education, as well as law enforcement. Currently, seized
assets go only to police.

* Looking for ways to make it legal for police to conduct "reverse stings"
involving bogus marijuana. In 1995, City Court Judge Teresa Johnson tossed
out more than 100 such cases on constitutional grounds. For one, she said,
officers were selling such small amounts of fake marijuana that possession
would have been only a violation and attempted possession not even that
serious.

Duffy discussed the plans later Wednesday with about 75 members of
committees that were formed from the summit. That meeting, at the offices
of the United Way of Greater Rochester, focused on the Community Response
Teams.

"Most people in the streets never see police working with citizens, said
Hanif Abdul Wahid of Rochesterians Against Illegal Narcotics, who was
encouraged by the plans. "This will help because it takes it to where we're
trying to get more good citizens out. This is not a law enforcement action
- -- this is a response to interrupt (the drug trade) and to dialogue with
the community."

The Rev. Karyn Carter, director of the group Families and Friends of
Murdered Children and Victims of Violence, said she liked what she heard --
but said she wanted to hear more about treatment.

"There's an addiction problem," she said. "If we're talking to people and
we don't have someone to connect with them, our efforts will be futile.
It's more than just reporting; it's making a connection."

Duffy said police chose the areas that will be targeted Tuesday after
prioritizing 15 drug markets in the city, mainly in an area identified by
Mayor William A. Johnson Jr. as a "crescent" of crime. Duffy said a recent
study showed 253 known drug houses in Rochester, with customers coming from
as far as Allegany County.