POLICE NEED ALLIES IN WAR ON DRUGS

Two words from a resident of Steubenville sum up why it sometimes is
virtually impossible to rid a community of illegal drugs.

"Go away!" the man yelled from his window one day earlier this month,
as he spotted Steubenville Police Chief William McCafferty in his
neighborhood. Clearly, some residents of that neighborhood - and
others like it, throughout the United States - consider police
officers to be the enemy. It doesn't matter to them that officers
truly are attempting to serve and protect everyone in their
communities. It angers them, in fact, that McCafferty and dedicated
men and women like him are attempting to protect some people from
themselves.

McCafferty took the time to escort a reporter from The Intelligencer
on a tour of some of Steubenville's trouble spots. The focus was on
places where traffic in illegal drugs has been a problem.

In particular, McCafferty's mind was on a gang called the "Chicago
Boys" who allegedly are behind a substantial amount of the drug
trafficking in Steubenville. Two men who are believed to be members of
the gang are accused of shooting another man to death on April 24 in
the Pleasant Heights area of Steubenville.

One of the challenges in cracking down on illegal drugs is the "pop-up
effect," as McCafferty explained. What it means is that police often
find that when they force drug trafficking down in one neighborhood,
it pops up in an entirely new location.

And, as the one man's forceful advice to McCafferty illustrates, it
sometimes seems to police as if some of the people they are trying to
protect have more sympathy for drug dealers than for authorities.

Drug pushers leave neighborhoods and communities when they are made to
feel unwelcome - either by police or residents. Those who understand
the terrible harm done by pushers would do well to work actively with
police, not against them.