HEIGHTS FOLK WANT VAGRANTS, DRUGS GONE

TAMPA - Residents and police differ on crime-fighting priorities for the old
neighborhood near downtown.

Week after week, officers arrest drug dealers on the same Tampa Heights
corners, and residents find the same vagrants sipping from paper bags in
front of their homes.

Residents near Columbus Drive and Florida Avenue say their quality of life
would improve if police arrested more nuisance criminals who steal porch
furniture and drink in public.

An even better solution, several said, would be to limit the free meals at
nearby social service agencies.

Area officers said they do arrest loitering vagrants when possible but are
more concerned with sweeping away serious criminals.

``When police look at the statistics for the area, we see drug [sales] and
prostitution on the corners as the main problems,'' Officer Lisa Boeving
said.

Police made narcotics arrests in 66 incidents during the first three months
of the year, often picking up drug dealers several times on the same corner.

Lt. Louie Potenziano said the narcotics department's newest strategy is to
prohibit people on probation from standing on certain corners. That way,
without witnessing a drug sale, police can arrest them for violating
probation.

His unit also does once-a-month undercover sweep, arresting about 30 people
in a night.

Officer Steven Metzler said Potenziano's operations do lower crime in the
area, but the same dealers and prostitutes return within weeks.

Most residents said it's the loitering, littering and petty robbery that
make life unpleasant.

``When we got out of a neighborhood watch meeting, there was a man drinking
in public, and the officer didn't arrest him,'' said Park Avenue resident
Cliff Valenti. ``I think many people were offended by that.''

Metzler said it's difficult to catch low-level criminals red-handed without
an unmarked car because ``as soon as they see me coming, everything
changes.''

Residents most often pointed their fingers at the Salvation Army and
Metropolitan Ministries' Manna House as the source of their problems.

``If you're going to have meals and programs for people, you need to show
them how to survive in society and have a place for them to sleep,'' said
lifelong Oak Street resident Celestine Pratt.

Boeving said the agencies should collect clients' names to check for violent
criminals before admitting them to the dining hall.

But Manna House spokeswoman Maria Rutkin responded, ``We're here to
alleviate suffering; and as long as people are hungry, we are not going to
refuse them a meal.''

Police urge residents to report crimes quickly and be vigilant.

Sgt. Michael McAnallen said residents should not fear retaliation by
scofflaws.

``Criminals bank on residents being afraid of what will happen if they
report crimes, but I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of
cases of reprisal,'' he said.

Lisabeth Cerda, a new Morgan Street homeowner, said police can only be in so
many places at once, so it is up to the residents to take back the
neighborhood by watching out for one another and communicating with police.

Residents said officers change posts too frequently to form a close
relationship.

``Just about when I'd meet someone and get to know them, the officer would
be switched and I wouldn't have the new officer's beeper or cell number,''
said resident Sheila Hage.

McAnallen, who coordinates day-shift officers, said community police are
seldom moved, although one new officer was assigned to the area last week.