JOIN FORCES

New Anti-Crime Team Should Help Relieve Neighborhood Woes

Give Wilmington Mayor James Baker credit for backing up his words with
actions. It is clear Wednesday when he and U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden announced
an anti-crime partnership that included federal agents, State Police and
the National Guard, that the mayor already had the next night's anti-drug
and anti-gun sweep through the Riverside housing projects on his mind.

The new city, state and federal team is made up of representatives from the
Wilmington Police Department, Delaware State Police, FBI, federal Drug
Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms,
Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Marshall's Office, U.S.
Attorney's Office, Secret Service and U.S. Customs agents.

The Delaware National Guard will support this team with computer services
to build a drug interdiction database. This consortium sent 65 police
officers and agents into Riverside for a five-hour door-to-door dragnet for
drugs and guns. Riverside had a drug-related shooting Monday night.

Similar sweeps can be expected within 48 hours of shootings anywhere in the
city.

Mayor Baker campaigned for office last fall pledging to step up police
response to drug and gun crime. He said he ultimately wanted to put
drug-sniffing dogs on the streets to break up dealing. He has not backed
down from that idea, although it may present privacy complications.

With a rapid-response team, Mr. Baker has taken the battle into the
neighborhoods and domiciles of suspected violators. It is a tough policy
that is likely to have positive effects when judiciously applied.

The only question is why New Castle County police are not involved in the
partnership. County officers have repeatedly assisted city police in the
last eight years when the city had a rash of shootings.

And if the city sweeps are successful, some criminals in Wilmington
neighborhoods will inevitably head for the suburbs of New Castle County.
There must be close coordination between city and county police to monitor
and counteract such movement. Indeed, the same kind of sweeps should be
done in the county in response to similar crime. This is not just a
Wilmington problem.