LOUISVILLE TIES DRUGS TO SLAYINGS

30 Of 60 Killings Involved Use, Trafficking

LOUISVILLE - Drugs are playing a major role in the increased rate of
killings in Louisville this year, police say.

Of the city's 60 homicides this year, police say 30 were related to
drug use or trafficking. Last year, the city recorded 51 homicides.

Police Chief Robert White said last week he doesn't believe the number
of killings warrants a new approach. "For the most part our approach
is sound. It's enforcement, intervention and prevention."

White said the city's drug problem is street-corner dealers, not
organized rings.

At least one local activist group said the police department and city
leaders are in denial about why drugs are fueling the violence.

"What drives dope?" asked the Rev. Gerome Sutton of the African
American Think Tank. "It's the gangs who run the dope. This is over
gangs and turf wars."

Homicide detectives have determined that three killings were related
to gangs, White said. He said drugs aren't the only explanation in the
killings: Ten were connected to domestic violence and 10 others were
related to assaults.

White has dispatched more officers to troubled areas in the city
(western Louisville and the Shelby Park and Smoketown areas) where the
majority of the homicides have occurred.

Angela West, a professor with the University of Louisville's
department of justice administration, said she'd be surprised if only
three homicides were gang-related, especially given the police belief
that 30 of the slayings have some drug connection.

"When you have drugs you have gangs," West said.

Sutton said he has spoken with several people he identified as gang
members who say the relocation of residents from the Clarksdale public
housing complex has pushed gang members into new neighborhoods.

Conflicts arose with rival gangs over the sale of drugs, Sutton said.

"How can you come in where guys have been selling dope for 10 years
and try to sell?" Sutton asked. "They're not going to let you."