RISING VIOLENCE SPARKS CONCERN IN EAST P.A.

Residents, Police Taking Steps To Combat Drug-Related Crimes

When Willie Mae Smith, 69, walks to the store near her home in East Palo
Alto's Gardens neighborhood, she holds her purse tightly to her body. She's
worried about crime because shootings have been on the rise lately, and
she's not alone in her fears.

This month, there have been four shootings in East Palo Alto, one of them
fatal.

Smith and her husband, Thurman, are among a growing number of residents who
are upset and are speaking out about the violence. Police are also aware of
an increase in armed assaults and pledged this week to increase patrols.

"It's worse than last year," said Thurman Smith, who voiced his worries
about crime at a city council meeting Tuesday. "I don't want to put my city
down. But I don't want to see it go back to how it was in the 1980s."

Smith, 79, said police did a great job cleaning up the streets after the
city's record-setting violence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He hopes
something can be done again.

"I know it's a tough job being a policeman," he said. "Every city in the
country is having budget problems, and that's understandable. But the way
things are going right now, if they don't try to get a handle on it, who
knows what it's going to be."

By this time last year, East Palo Alto had 19 armed robberies and seven
armed assaults, according to police data and Mercury News records. In
contrast, so far this year there have been 15 armed robberies and 21 armed
assaults. Three people have been killed this year, the same number of
homicides that had occurred by this time in 2002.

Resident Matthew Footer, a Stanford University chemist, has lived since
2000 on Lilac Lane, and is proposing a simple solution to drug traffic on
his street, which is across town from the Smiths' home. He and many of his
neighbors want to block off one end of their street.

Lilac is a quiet road where people often park while buying drugs on nearby
Dumbarton Avenue, he said. He and others have long wanted to do something,
and a February killing on Lilac Lane pushed them to action.

"The recent murder and subsequent shootings have galvanized us to do
something pro-active to curb that activity," Footer said.

Blocking off an end of the one-block street "won't get rid of dealers, but
it's cheap compared to hiring a beat cop," he said. Footer brought his
proposal before the city council Tuesday, and city officials are looking
into it.

Economy May Be Factor

Residents and police believe crime may be increasing because of the
economic downturn, and because homeland security concerns have tightened
borders that used to be more porous to drugs. With fewer drugs coming into
the city, dealers appear to be fighting over a limited supply.

"As the economy goes down, crime goes up," East Palo Alto Police Chief Wes
Bowling said. "The tightening of dope at the borders is another problem
we're looking at. The have-nots rip off the haves."

Police said they aren't certain what percentage of this year's shootings
are drug-related.

No matter what the cause of the violence, Bowling said he is "alarmed." He
held a strategy meeting Thursday with his command staff and the San Mateo
County sheriff's investigators who work in the city.

"Especially after this last weekend when we had the homicide . . . I just
said, it's time to rally the troops and look at what the issues are and
what we need to do about it."

Increasing Patrols

Bowling decided to increase patrols in the city, and to "work some more
populated spots where we have a lot of loitering going on." The officers
also talked about getting more help from the San Mateo County probation
department and state parole officers.

In December, the police department added five officers, bringing the total
number of officers to 36. While the new recruits train, they are riding
with veteran officers. Two recruits will begin patrols on their own in two
weeks, which will add to the number of squad cars on the streets, Bowling said.