TOUGH ON CRIME OR JUST A SIGN OF DESPERATION?

Give Belleville points for ingenuity in the city's battle against drug
trafficking.

Or maybe it's just a sign of desperation.

The Belleville Police Department is putting signs outside of houses
and apartments where drug arrests have been made with the words,
"Warning! Drug house; enter at your own risk."

One would think if the situation in a building is bad enough to
warrant such a warning sign, then why don't police just have an
old-fashioned stake out? But the point is not so much to stop drug
sales at a particular location as it is to raise community awareness
and let neighbors know police are paying attention.

The yellow signs with their warnings and red arrows won't be permanent
fixtures.

The department only has two signs and they will only be displayed
during the daylight. Apparently, it's not safe for the signs to be out
alone after dark.

The signs will travel from location to location -- somewhat like the
drug trade itself.

The criteria police are using for placing signs raise questions,
too.

The signs state "drug house" without any "suspected" or "alleged" to
get in the way of the message. Yet, no one needs to have been
convicted or even formally charged for a residence to be targeted by
this modern-day scarlet letter.

How well received would the signs be if private individuals, rather
than the police, tried the same tactic -- vigilante style?

We feel sorry for innocent people who live at the targeted addresses
and have little choice than to enter at their "own risk." On the other
hand, if they live in an area with a bad drug problem, the "drug
house" sign is probably the least of their worries.

Jack LeChien, a Belleville alderman, told the Belleville News-Democrat
he's not concerned about the possibility that signs might lower
property values: "In the long term, what's going to help sell their
house is getting drug dealers out of their neighborhood."

He is right about that. But we would still hate to be a real estate
agent leading a prospective buyer past one of those signs.

We wish the Belleville PD good luck; but we don't recommend following
its example.