BALDWYN FIGHTS CRIMES FUELED BY DRUGS AND ALCOHOL

BALDWYN - Twelve square miles to patrol and a population of about 4,000
people to protect were enough to keep the Baldwyn Police Department on the
move in 2002.

"There's still a lot of action that happens here in Baldwyn," said Capt.
Chris Dickinson.

That action from the year gone by was chronicled in the department's annual
report that showed crimes fueled by drugs and alcohol were among the city's
most prevalent.

Of the city's 45 felony cases that occurred in 2002, 20 were drug-related.
Of the 568 misdemeanor arrests, 288, including 88 DUI cases, were drug-or
alcohol-related.

"And probably 90 to 95 percent of our burglaries were carried out because
of drugs," said Dickinson, pointing out people often steal to support their
drug habit. "It's a vicious cycle that we're dealing with."

More than $20,000 in drugs were taken off the city's streets last year.

In working to reduce the number of burglaries, Chief Troy Agnew said the
department "beefed up" its patrol unit last year by working three
additional officers at nights and on weekends.

"People's houses are their castles," Agnew said. "We want to make sure we
protect our citizens at their home."

As in most cities, writing speeding tickets took up a good bit of the
officers' time in 2002. They issued 426 citations for speeding, and pointed
out that the strict enforcement helped keep the roadways safe. There were
no traffic fatalities in Baldwyn last year.

Border Town

Baldwyn is located in a unique position, part in Lee County and part in
Prentiss County. Aside from that, it is minutes away from Itawamba, Tippah
and Union counties and often sees criminal suspects from those areas drive
through its city limits.

In times past, Baldwyn was able to hear radio traffic only from Lee County
"and whoever other agencies were after would be out of our city limits
before we could get it on our radio," Dickinson said.

But newly acquired police radios help them better track radio traffic from
other agencies.

"We've received a few grants that have helped us move into the 21st
century," Dickinson said.