STING OPERATION ROUNDS UP 269 DRUG DEALERS

Complaints about drug-dealing in Southeast Side neighborhoods were so
widespread last year, Grand Rapids police Capt. James Farris got phone calls
at home and people stopped him outside church.

Now, with 269 arrests since January, Farris and officers in his South
Neighborhood team say they have made a dent in the area's hottest drug zones
and they intend to pursue street-level dealers through the summer.

"We are doing everything we can to see that things are much better," said
Farris, whose sentiments are echoed by neighborhood associations in that
area.

The arrests were part of Operation RECESS II : "Reassuring Every Child
Enjoys Safe Sidewalks."

From January through May, undercover officers performed weekly sting
operations while their uniformed counterparts kept up 20-hour-a-day foot
patrols in the target neighborhoods.

Of those arrested, most were adult men who live in those neighborhoods,
Farris said. And most were arrested on felony cocaine charges. The remainder
face misdemeanor marijuana charges.

The police effort replicates a five-month operation last year that focused
on neighborhoods surrounding Dickinson Elementary School and St. Francis
Xavier Catholic School. That netted more than 100 arrests of drug dealers
who police say were pushing their products near school grounds.

Farris said he had to wait for vice officers to finish that assignment
before they could start working with the South Team in January.

The target areas were:

- -- Logan Street and Sheldon Avenue.

- -- Worden Street and Neland Avenue.

- -- The 1200-1400 blocks of Cass and Prospect avenues.

- -- The area encompassing Sigsbee, Baxter and Bemis streets and Diamond
Avenue.

These drug-peddling pockets were identified by police and neighbors.

"Baxter was one of the hottest spots, where I got a lot of calls from,"
Farris said. "Many of them were calls from elderly people who said they
didn't feel safe coming out of their homes."

Residents told police many dealers were selling drugs on street corners
early in the morning, so undercover officers were sent out before dawn to
make a buy and bust them.

Farris believes the intense efforts caught some dealers by surprise.

Neighborhood officials said it is part of an effort to cut crime while
improving housing and setting up more block clubs.

"It's not cleared out completely, but it's not like it was," said Marian
Barrera-Young, crime prevention organizer for the Baxter Neighborhood
Association. "You can't get rid of drugs completely; you never will."

But she said police put a welcome bite behind the association's bid to rid
their area of drug houses. They also have worked on kicking out a
prostitution ring and helping landlords bring rental homes up to code.
Sanitation crews were called in to sweep the streets.

"It was a clearinghouse," she said.

For their part, the police have not left behind the target neighborhoods.
And neither have the drug dealers.

A $25,000 local block grant will keep officers on foot and bicycle patrols
in those neighborhoods throughout the summer. Undercover officers also will
be on the streets.

"There have been some additional complaints that it might be starting up
again," Farris said. "That's why we have the grant -- so we can follow up."