UNEASY STREETS

Residents of high-crime neighborhood at Cleveland Avenue and 21st Street
embrace, yet question, the presence of law enforcement By Victoria Cherrie
JOURNAL REPORTER

Years ago, Winston-Salem cops called the intersection of Cleveland Avenue
and 21st Street "21 Jumpstreet." The area was one of the worst in the city
for drugs and violent crimes, including homicides. People were afraid to
come out of their houses to sit on their porches. Parents were afraid to
let their children play outside.

"The drugs just started coming in. We never did know where they came from,"
said Abraham Liles, 71, who has lived on 22nd Street for 43 years. "The
drugs did make it scary for the elderly people to even go to the store."

With help from residents, Winston-Salem police cracked down on much of the
crime. The city shut down trouble spots, including a grocery store where
drug dealers hung out.

Reported crime dropped. In 1997, police made 686 arrests in the area. In
2000, 386 arrests were made, according to statistics from the police
department.

But the drop in crime hasn't been without controversy, especially since the
arrest last summer of Nakia Glenn. Although residents say they are pleased
that their community is safer, some say that the safety has come at a
price. They feel that law-enforcement officers are targeting young men in
the predominantly black neighborhood and that the police presence has made
people more fearful.

"I think the police should be our friends," said the Rev. John Parks of New
Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Cleveland Avenue. "Instead, some people
feel like they're coming here for war."

Law-enforcement officers say they have worked hard to become a part of the
community. But they say they often get mixed messages from residents.

"People ask us to get rid of drug dealers and then complain when one of
their friends or relatives is arrested," said Officer Doug Nance of the
Winston-Salem Police Department.

The relationship between law-enforcement officers and the neighborhood was
tested this summer.

Nakia Glenn's friends and relatives said that he was unfairly targeted when
he was followed, stopped and arrested Aug. 19 at the intersection of
Cleveland Avenue and 21st Street.

Witnesses said that deputies Shane Wells and Gary Simpson of the Forsyth
County Sheriff's Office beat him with flashlights.

During the arrest, Glenn swallowed nearly an ounce of cocaine that was in a
small plastic bag. He also was treated for a gash on the back of his head.

He was taken to Forsyth Medical Center and was in a coma until a few weeks
ago. A relative said that Glenn has severe brain damage and that he will be
moved to a specialized hospital in Maryland.

"He's got to learn everything back over," said Rovia Hall, a friend. "When
I first went to visit, he couldn't even say my name. Nobody deserves to be
beaten like that."

The State Bureau of Investigation reviewed the case and has turned over its
findings to Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith, said Bob Clark, an
SBI spokesman.

Keith will determine whether the deputies acted appropriately.

Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Barker said he does not believe that his
deputies were out of line.

"With all that I've been able to gather, I don't see that they did anything
wrong," he said.

A troubled history

Glenn, 22, grew up in Winston-Salem. He dropped out of high school in the
10th grade.

Before the Aug. 19 incident, he had been arrested 10 times since 1998 and
charged with more than 20 different offenses, from possession of stolen
goods to drug sales and probation violation.

During an arrest in May 1999, Winston police officers said that he
swallowed some cocaine and was taken to the hospital to have his stomach
pumped.

That same year, Glenn was arrested in Marietta, Ga., during a traffic stop.
He consented to a search, and officers found about $3,000 in Glenn's pants
pocket and a sandwich bag full of smaller bags of marijuana, a spokeswoman
for the Marietta Police Department said.

Glenn did not appear in court on the charges from that case. As a result he
was arrested in August 2000, according to the Cobb County Sheriff's
Department. A month later, he was sentenced to a boot camp and released
after the 90-day program.

Glenn's friends say that he doesn't do drugs, but they acknowledge that he
did sell them.

"After a while when you got a record like that, there's nothing much else
you can do," said a friend, Renee Bryant. "You got to survive somehow."

Over the years, Glenn has used his money to produce compact discs for a
local rap group, friends said. He has bought clothes and food for mothers
and children in the neighborhood, they said.

"He's the most giving person," Bryant said. "If there is anything you need,
he is there."

Many people who know Glenn said they have never met his parents or family
and that in the months before his latest arrest he moved around a lot.

"He's been on the streets a long time," Bryant said.

She and others said they believe that Glenn's intentions are good, even
though things he has done are illegal.

And some in the neighborhood question Glenn's arrest on Aug. 19. They say
that it's not uncommon for police to be suspicious about or question young
black men walking or driving through the area.

"If you are an average young black man, the police automatically think you
are involved in something wrong," said Edward Jones, 23, who often visits
friends on 22nd Street. "Everybody is not guilty just because of how they
look."

Jones, who is black, said that he has been pulled over and searched in the
past because he was in a known drug area or with people who may have been
arrested in the past.

"I'm not saying that all cops harass you," he said. "But it seems like they
automatically think you got something on you."

The sheriff's deputies who arrested Glenn are part of the office's Highway
Interdiction Team. They drive black Camaros and wear camouflage pants and
combat boots.

The team's primary responsibilities are to monitor highways in the county
for trucks with safety violations. But they also hunt for drunken drivers
and work with the county's drug officers who get many calls for help inside
the city limits, Barker said.

Residents had complained about the interdiction team before Glenn's arrest,
Forsyth County Commissioner Walter Marshall said.

He said that the interdiction team, which is all-white, has a reputation
for being a "bunch of renegades" who use questionable tactics.

"I don't know that I'd feel safe around them," Marshall, who is black,
said. "Yes, people want their neighborhood cleaned up but they want it done
in a humane way."

When Wells and Simpson arrested Glenn, his friends and relatives said that
the actions of the sheriff's deputies were brutal.

The local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People said that Glenn's civil rights had been violated and
launched its own investigation.

The deputies were removed from the streets to work in the radio room until
the investigation is complete.

Residents also questioned why the officers were in the neighborhood that
night, since their primary function is to track truckers.

At a meeting in August, sheriff's office officials told county
commissioners that they were unsure why the deputies were in the area.

Sheriff's deputies and Winston-Salem police officers were present during
Glenn's arrest.

Narcotics detectives with the police department and sheriff's office
sometimes work together and share information on cases. But there are also
times when they don't, officials said.

"That's what kind of bothers me," Marshall said. "If you are going to
target an area you should be working together."

But sheriff's deputies have jurisdiction to make arrests throughout the
county without contacting city police, Barker said.

"If anybody is engaged in illegal activities and an officer recognizes it,
he or she will act on it," Barker said. "Whether it be a deputy sheriff or
a Winston-Salem police officer."

'Can't have it both ways'

Mattie Young, the president of the Cleveland Avenue Homes Association, said
that one of the problems is that people want law-enforcement protection but
complain about the police when they're around.

"You can't have it both ways," Young said.

She said she and other members of the association have worked hard over the
years to make a difference in their neighborhood, which is close to
Cleveland and 21st.

Taking back their streets started with a campaign to let criminals know
that they would not be tolerated, she said.

A major part of their strategy was an increased police presence.

"Most of the people who live in these houses are good law-abiding people
who are forced to live where this goes on," said Sgt. David Lamb, of the
Winston-Salem Police Department. "But to a degree, some of the problems are
accepted behavior."

Mail carrier DeJuan Ogelsby has seen results of the efforts of community
groups such as Young's and law-enforcement.

At one time, it wasn't safe to walk to his route, he said. Now he said he
feels safe delivering letters on foot in the neighborhood.

"It's not as bad here as it used to be," Ogelsby, said. "There was a time
when you couldn't even come up here it was so dangerous."

Neighborhood resident Liles said he feels safer, too.

"When I see a police car rolling easy down the street, I know I don't have
to worry about stepping down to the corner," he said. "If it weren't for
the police, we couldn't live."