SOUTHEAST SIDERS LEARN OF LATEST ANTI-GANG, ANTI-DRUG INITIATIVES

New methods of arresting drug dealers require patience from community.

CHICAGO -- About 25 people spent an evening last week learning how an
aggressive new program to target and prosecute narcotics operations
and revisions to the city's gang loitering ordinance can help them rid
their neighborhoods of crime.

The Cook County State's Attorney's Community Prosecutions Division,
which prosecutes crimes that affect quality of life, presented a
Narcotics Forum at Trumbull Park for residents of the Chicago Police
Department's Fourth District.

For people like L. A. Hatton, attending the program was a way to
improve the problems he increasingly sees in his neighborhood.

Hatton is a Chicago Housing Authority Tenant Patrol member in the
Trumbull Park public housing complex just south of Trumbull Park,
along 105th Street.

"I've been here since '87. Around here it's gotten worse in the last
two years," Hatton said.

Luann Ratke, is also a resident of the Trumbull Park project and a
tenant patrol member.

"It's shooting and gang-banging," she said of the problems in her
neighborhood. "They were out there last night shooting four times."

Sgt. Lolita Parham said the three major problems within the Fourth
District have been identified as narcotics, gangs and burglary.

The Rev. Ernest Peterson said he attends CAPS meetings all over the
Fourth District trying to help residents become aware of the
ordinances that can help them clean up their neighborhoods. He said
many people are uninformed or misinformed.

During the forum, the new gang loitering ordinance was explained. The
law was revised after it was tossed out by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Robin Crabb, assistant corporation counsel for the city's drug and
gang house enforcement section, explained there are actually two parts
to the new ordinance: the Gang Loitering Ordinance and the Narcotics
Loitering Ordinance.

Under the Gang Loitering Ordinance, an officer can issue an order for
people to disperse from a designated "hot spot" for a period of three
hours. If a person returns to the area prior to that time, he or she
can be arrested.

Charles Rodgers, assistant corporation counsel, said under the
narcotics ordinance, building owners are approached when there is
illegal activity taking place on their property. If the owner doesn't
cooperate with police to eliminate the problem they are charged for
allowing and permitting the activity.

The way police are going after drug dealing operations has been
revised, they explained. Instead of going after drug dealers selling
on street corners, the state's attorney's office and police are
targeting entire gang operations that are trafficking drugs.

The residents were told it might not appear police are making arrests
and eliminating problems that have been reported, but the new method
will require patience. Instead, police are trying to spend more time
building a case to arrest several people in an operation from the head
of the organization on down, instead of going after the easy targets.

Once these cases are brought before a judge, residents are urged to
get involved by appearing in court to explain why these people are a
nuisance to the neighborhood.

William O'Brien, chief of the narcotics prosecutions bureau for the
Cook County State's Attorney's Office, said out of about 17 cases
prosecuted under the new ordinance, none have been lost.

He explained under the narcotics ordinance everyone connected to the
operation is charged for dealing the largest amount of drugs uncovered
during an investigation.

"Every citizen in this city deserves a place where they can go, where
they belong, where they won't be hassled by these knuckleheads,"
O'Brien said.

*Elizabeth Eaken can be reached at eeaken@howpubs.com or (219)
933-3318.