SPECIFIC DETAIL - SPECIAL UNIT'S TOP TASK - IMPROVE PROBLEM AREAS

As six Springfield police officers pulled up last week to a large,
white house in the 800 block of South 13th Street, the group of young
men outside turned sullen.

The two-story house, with its glassed-in porch, looks like it was once
a showplace of the neighborhood. Today, screens are falling off the
windows. The siding and gutters are scarred with apparent bullet
holes. And garbage, which bystanders could smell even on a mild
summer evening, was strewn across the sidewalk and out into the street.

The house, reportedly home to members of the New Breed Gangster
Disciples, has become a centerpiece of the drug trade on Springfield's
central east side, the officers said.

The six men are police officers, but it may be easier to think of them
as firefighters, spending their summer using innovative police work to
douse hotspots of crime.

Sgt. Randy Wilson and officers Don Edwards, Brian Graves, Barry
Ritter, Todd Taylor and Steven Termine are part of the department's
Summer Detail -- officers who were pulled off of normal street duty to
concentrate on making problem neighborhoods safer.

Grant money will be used to pay officers to fill in for those assigned
to the Summer Detail. (The same funds also will be used to pay for
patrols for Air Rendezvous and to battle underage drinking and curfew
violations.)

"We targeted the hot spots for this," said Cmdr. Mitzi Vasconcelles,
who is overseeing the project. This is the fourth year for the program.

"We are looking into calls we've had for service to areas of the city.
We looked at particular calls such as shots fired, reports of gang
activity, narcotics allegations, ..."

Trouble Spots

As a result, the officers are concentrating on three areas -- the Enos
Park neighborhood; Beat 300, the area between Carpenter Street and
South Grand Avenue east of Ninth Street; and parts of Beat 400 just
south of South Grand and east of 11th Street.

But they will go wherever the trouble leads them, Vasconcelles
said.

On Tuesday night, the trouble was on South 13th.

The Summer Detail officers cruised up to the residence, got out of
their cars and began talking to the men standing on the sidewalk on
the side of the house.

The officers' goal is to get enough information from a visit to fill
out a "field interview" card, which the department can keep on file in
case of future contact with the individuals. Each card includes a
person's name, aliases, acquaintances, activities, tattoos,the types
of vehicles he drives, addresses, etc.

The officers also try to convince the men to pose for a picture for
them. Some comply, some don't.

But at least one man outside the South 13th Street home didn't want to
participate in the officer's game. The man, a 23-year old who has
served time for a drug offence, lives at the house with his family.

"I'm tired of you chasin' through here," he told the officers as they
began asking the men what they were doing at the house.

"It's all bull--. They come over here acting buddy, buddy and --.
Ain't no one selling drugs here. I don't trust a one of you."

While he is on his tirade, a boy who looks to be about 12 years old
sits on his bike and watches. One of the men outside the house tells
him to ride along. He shakes his head in disappointment and rides
away.

"I think I just made an enemy," Sgt. Wilson says as the officers pull
away.

"Another enemy," jokes officer Ritter, who is driving the car they are
in.

Neighborhood cleanup

Making friends is not the point of their mission this summer, Wilson
points out. Keeping the neighborhood safe is the goal.

"To get to know the criminal is what we do," Wilson said. "I may be
sitting there seeming like I'm having a regular conversation, but at
the same time, I can memorize a mole on their face, a shaving cut,
facial hair, a tattoo and who they are related to."

The five officers who made up last year's Summer Detail came up with
some innovative ways to do that.

Those ideas included bringing lawn chairs and sitting with suspected
gang members and drug dealers on street corners known to be drug
marketplaces.

They also posted a sign in Enos Park that read: "Drug interdiction
zone two blocks ahead." Officers were waiting on side streets for
those who saw the sign and decided to drive around the zone.

Lt. Greg Smith is supervising the officers, along with Vasconcelles.
He said the officers on this year's Summer Detail will try some of the
same techniques, and add some new ones.

"We will saturate areas with uniformed officers and perform undercover
sting operations. We will continue to do some of the things they did
last year," Smith Said. "The key to success is having this small
group of officers dedicated entirely to one area or one problem."

When officers do the kind of police work, he said, the crime tends to
shift. Criminals either work different hours or in different areas.
The good thing, he said, is that the Summer Detail officers are free
to follow the criminals, wherever they go and whenever they work.

"If they quit selling drugs at 3 p.m. and start selling them at 3
a.m., we'll follow. At least we can give neighbors some relief. When
we disturb their drug business, their customers, it has an impact on
the rest of the crime in that area. If you keep the supply of drugs
down, other crime follows. Most crimes are somehow
drug-related."

Vasconcelles said the idea is to take the initiative away from
criminals, "rather than just to react to calls and to respond quickly
to problems."

Also on Tuesday, the Summer Detail officers stopped by a house also
known for high drug activity in the 1500 block of East Lawrence
Avenue. When they pulled up, a 17-year-old man ducked behind the
house, took off running and jumped into a passing car.

By coincidence, the owner of the rental house pulled up about the same
time as police. When the officers drive two blocks away to the
17-year-old who ran from them, the landlord followed.

He asked the police what was going on at the house. His female tenant
wasn't paying her rent, the landlord said, and he didn't want any
problems there. In fact, he gave the officers phone numbers where he
could be reached virtually 24 hours a day.

"He was really upset at the activity that was going on there," said
Wilson. "He said he was letting her live there as a favor. He is on
his way over there now to ask her to move out. I take this as a good
sign."

Vasconcelles and Smith said anyone who is experiencing problems in
their neighborhoods should call police. If it's an emergency, call
911, they advise. If it's a long-term problem they'd like to see
solved, they can call the shift lieutenants' offices at 788-8333.