DRUGS PRESENT LONG-TERM WOES FOR POLICE, CITY

Although crime in Vallejo is down overall this year, elected
officials, police and citizen crimefighters agree the city will see
long-lasting progress only when its widespread drug problem is controlled.

According to figures released recently by the FBI, major crime in
Vallejo for the first half of 2003 decreased in all categories except
homicide, as compared to the same time frame in 2002. City officials
said the drop bucks an overall Bay Area trend of increasing crime rates.

Vallejo showed the biggest improvement in the number of assault cases,
which were down 21 percent from 385 in the first half of 2002 to 284
so far this year.

Burglary and larceny dropped 18 percent and 14 percent, respectively,
while the number of rapes was down 5 percent, or just one from the 21
incidents reported last year. Robbery was cut by 4 percent.

Drug-related arrests are not recorded by the FBI as part of its
general crime figures although substance abuse has a significant
impact on the number of other crimes committed, police say. Users
steal, assault and commit other crimes to get drug money.

"Drugs in any town brings upon its own type of crime," said Robert
Noyes, president of the Vallejo chapter of Crimestoppers.

Sgt. Vic Massenkoff, a police patrol supervisor, said the best way to
measure a city's overall safety is to examine its drug problem, which
he said continues to improve in Vallejo.

"Compared to Vallejo 10 or 15 years ago, it's a night and day
improvement," Massenkoff said. "We have to keep working on it or we'll
fall back into some of those patterns."

Police statistics on drug-related incidents were not immediately
available, but daily arrest reports show patrol officers and the more
undercover Crime Suppression Unit make thousands of drug arrests annually.

"It's definitely one of our most stubborn problems," Massenkoff said
of efforts to curb methamphetamine and cocaine deals. "We've seen
quite a lot of crime is associated with street-level drug activity."

With the mounting state budget deficit threatening possible cuts to
municipal police forces, battling crime, specifically drugs, could
prove even more difficult.

Police say dope dealers are sophisticated and users are sneaky. Some
dealers hide drugs in their mouths and buttocks and employ "spotters"
with cell phones to watch the streets for approaching cops.

"Honestly, I don't think the Vallejo Police Department or the L.A.
police or the San Francisco police are equipped right now to stop the
drugs," Noyes said, adding that laying off police as a result of
budget cuts will send crime soaring. "The bad guy is going to
understand."

That's where Noyes said good citizenship comes into play. In recent
years, police say neighborhood crime watchers have been more
vigorously reporting suspicious behavior, which helps them keep on top
of mapping where drug transactions are most prevalent.

"There are a number of neighborhoods where the folks felt they were
held hostage by criminal activity," Massenkoff said.

Drug abuse specialist, Jeannie Villarreal, agreed that narcotics use
often directly leads to other crime as desperate users look for ways
to support their habit.

But she and other recovering addicts continue to advocate for
treatment, not additional prison time, for offenders.

Up to 85 percent of those released from prison have a substance abuse
addiction, said Villarreal, a project coordinator for the city's
anti-drug program, Fighting Back Partnership.

"For our society to keep locking these people away without treatment
.. is ignoring the underlying factor for why they're committing the
crime," Villarreal said.

While happy about the overall decreasing crime trend in Vallejo, Mayor
Tony Intintoli Jr. acknowledged how drug use sparks criminal activity.

"So much of it is drug related," the mayor said. "Unless we can make
an impact, we're going to have this problem (of crime.)"