CHIEF: DRUGS SPUR RISE IN ASSAULTS

HIGH POINT -- Police Chief Jim Fealy is concerned about the significant
increase in aggravated assault victims in the city last year but says he
believes the department's new strategy to fight street-level drug dealing
should help lower the figure in 2004.

As of Sunday, 490 people were victims of aggravated assault, about 80 more
than all of 2002.

"We're trying to figure out why and what we can do about it," Fealy said
this week while discussing the department's preliminary year-end crime
statistics.

Those figures, which are current through Sunday, show that overall, serious
crime in the city grew about 1 percent last year compared with 2002.

Robberies were down slightly, from 268 in 2002 to 263 last year, while
rapes remained steady at 34 and homicides were up three, from six in 2002
to nine last year. Burglaries increased about 5 percent, from 1,479 in 2002
to 1,548 last year while thefts and thefts of vehicles dropped slightly.

"Overall I'm pretty positive about it," Fealy said.

He attributes the low growth in reported crime in 2003 partly to his
department's restructuring in July, which increased the number of officers
on the streets during peak call times.

In addition to reducing response times, it gave officers more time to
patrol and be proactive instead of running from call to call, Fealy said.

"Every week, almost daily, I see a good felony arrest where somebody was
caught in the act or shortly after," said Maj. Marty Sumner, who oversees
south High Point for the department.

Violent crime in the city has dropped significantly since 1997, when police
investigated a near-record 16 homicides.

Though aggravated assaults were up in 2003, they didn't eclipse the 551
reported in 1997.

Part of what is driving this year's figure, Fealy said, is that numerous
aggravated assaults involve multiple victims, and the police department now
counts each victim for its year-end tally. The 490 people were involved in
375 separate incidents, according to the department.

Fealy says he believes drug dealing is to blame for the increasing assault
numbers. In addition, at least five or six of the city's nine homicides can
be linked to drugs, he said.

In one case this year, police said a man was charged with shooting up a
known drug house and killing a resident because he was fed up with a family
member getting drugs from those inside.

Police plan to announce a new strategy this month to target repeat, violent
drug dealers. That strategy will be modeled after the city's Violent Crimes
Task Force. For several years, members of the task force have called in
violent or repeat offenders to the police department and told them to stop
breaking the law or face prison. Community members have offered help for
those wanting to turn their lives around.

As with that task force, federal authorities have agreed to get involved in
the drug dealing issue because federal sentences are often harsher than
state sentences for similar crimes.

"We want them to know we're coming," Fealy said.