PROJECT SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS: ZEROING IN ON CRIME

SHELBY -- They had spent their Friday night and Saturday morning at the
Shelby Utilities Center plotting to rid the city of its crime. Just before
lunch Saturday, Mayor Ted Alexander asked to speak to the group -- made up
of about two dozen residents, law enforcement officers and city and county
employees.

With the scent of barbecue and hushpuppies wafting from the hallway, the
group fidgeted and shifted in their chairs.

Alexander stood and thanked everyone for spending Saturday working on this
project. It was important work and "to underscore the urgency of this," he
said, his smile gone from his face, "this morning, we suffered our third
homicide of the year."

The chairs stopped creaking and everyone turned their heads and looked at
one another.

"It was heartbreaking to see the look on the mayor's and (Shelby Police
Capt.) Mark Brooks' faces," Shelby resident Susann Durham said later.

The news of a 57-year-old man shot and killed in his home made her want to
work harder.

For the rest of Saturday, the group worked hard and outlined work they will
do in the future.

They learned how to organize and work together and identified the factors
and symptoms of crime in Shelby. They chose which neighborhood they would
target first and then formed their strategy to accomplish the goal: to rid
the community of its crime problem, block by block

They did all this with the guidance of two experts of Project Safe
Neighborhoods: Gerald Cooper, who retired as assistant superintendent of
Chicago Police Department, and Tony Potts, retired lieutenant of St.
Petersburg, Fla.'s police department.

Project Safe Neighborhoods is a strategy to reduce gun and violent crime in
a community. It involves federal officials from the U.S. attorney's office,
state and local government and members of the community.

With this program, local law enforcement and prosecutors learn how to
prosecute some of the worst violent offenders federally, which means once
those offenders are convicted in federal court, they will face much longer
sentences, Assistant United States Attorney Robert J. Gleason told the group.

He talked about the success a Charlotte neighborhood had with the project,
diminishing the gun violence by 25 percent in the first year.

Alexander said he and Shelby Police Chief Tandy Carter have been working
with Gretchen Shappert, U.S. attorney for the Western District of the state
on federal prosecution of those offenders in Cleveland County.

The group listed the names of people and agencies whose assistance they
needed but had not attended the meeting, including District Attorney Bill
Young, preachers, legislators, City Council members, landlords and agencies
such as the YMCA, Department of Social Services and probation and parole.

Then they zeroed in on a neighborhood to target -- from McBrayer to
Whisnant streets and Gardner to Graham streets. They will analyze crime
numbers from the police department to make sure that is the area that needs
the most attention.

"You build this block by block," Potts told the group. "Once this block is
under control, you move on to the next."

[SIDEBAR]

Project Safe Neighborhoods members identified a list of factors and
symptoms of Shelby's crime problem during a two-day workshop. Here's what
they found:

Drugs, especially crack cocaine and methamphetamine, high drop-out rates,
lack of drug rehabilitation programs, lack of jobs, lack of landlord
involvement, too many renters and not enough homeowners, lack of church
involvement, lack of recreational activity, gang influence, too few street
lights, lack of re-entry programs for former prisoners, abandoned
properties, lack of after-school programs.

Residents who live in the neighborhood bounded by McBrayer, Whisnant,
Gardner and Graham streets are invited to attend Project Safe
Neighborhoods' next meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 28, at Graham
Elementary School library.

For more information, call Nikki McSwain at (704) 484-7166.