Times Investigation

VICE OPERATIONS DO NOT STOP MOST OFFENDERS FOR LONG

In this year's downtown vice sweep, Davenport police arrested 64 suspected
drug dealers, prostitutes and pimps during a three-day period. Three weeks
later, 40 of those suspects are out of jail.

Every year, Davenport police deploy dozens of officers to sweep a
four-block area for drug and sex crime suspects.

Police and experts agree the results are limited.

Last year's version of the vice sweep in the same four-block area netted 63
people. In July 1998 police nabbed 33.

Thirty-five of the 64 arrested in the October sweep have previous arrests.
Those 35 suspects account for 272 criminal prosecutions, most in the past
five years.

A computer analysis of their criminal records shows a group of people being
arrested for the same types of crimes over and over and receiving fines,
probation and short jail stints.

Even serious prison time doesn't always deter. One of the suspected drug
dealers received a 10-year prison term for a drug offense in 1996. Yet,
since 1999, he has been arrested and convicted seven times of various drug
and theft charges in Scott County until he was caught in this latest sweep.

Police Chief Mike Bladel says stings are the best tools police have to
stifle "unwholesome environments."

But critics of the police war on drugs believe there are other ways to
solve what they call a public health problem.

Kevin Zeese, president of Virginia-based think tank Common Sense for Drug
Policy, described such annual vice stings as repetitive attempts at winning
a war with tactics that are not working.

"These are solvable problems," Zeese said. "But they seem not solvable
because we keep doing the same things over and over again with the same
results."

Familiar Faces

It's 3:30 p.m. July 31, and Napoleon Hartsfield is standing in the 800
block of West 3rd Street when some men approach him and inquire about
purchasing crack cocaine. After a brief discussion, he accepts $20 from the
men, hands them his shoe as collateral and leaves to get the rock.

Before he can get far, Davenport vice squad officers stop him on the
street: He has just sold drugs to undercover officers.

Twenty-two days later, at 10:18 p.m. Aug. 22, Hartsfield is standing in the
same city block, and again sells crack cocaine to an undercover officer for
$40.

Thirteen days pass, and police find him again at 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 4 --
this time in the 200 block of Scott Street -- with six rocks of crack
cocaine and a crack pipe.

Hartsfield, 37, was one of the 64 people arrested on warrants during the
Davenport police drug stings between Oct. 11 and Oct. 13.

His story is substantially the same as at least 35 of the others rounded up
in the same operation.

Debbie Cole, 34, arrested on a warrant for prostitution on Oct. 11, has
faced charges in Scott County District Court 17 times since 1994, including
a drug delivery charge and four counts of prostitution.

On April 14, 1999, and Aug. 26, 1999, vice agents downtown arrested her on
separate charges of prostitution. She was back in the west end just 15 days
later when police picked her up on Sept. 10 of that year, this time while
in the possession of drugs, court records show.

For those crimes, she was sentenced to two years in prison. But 13 months
after the September offense, she was out again. This time, police arrested
her Oct. 23, 2000 on a misdemeanor theft charge.

Once again, the courts sentenced her to another two-year prison term. But
by May 2 of this year, seven months after the October 2000 offense, she was
arrested again on a theft charge. And by May 20, police allege they
witnessed her selling sex yet again downtown.

Another woman arrested in the recent sting, Sheila Thorson, has been
charged 15 times with crimes including theft, prostitution, forgery and
possession with intent to deliver drugs since January 1995.

In a phone call Thursday from the Scott County Jail, Hartsfield said he has
sold drugs in the past but claims the police are harassing him and "making
up" some of the charges.

"I'm obviously not a big-time dealer like they think I am," he said. "I
can't even afford to pay a bail bondsman $1,000 to get me out of jail."

The Method

Police watched with binoculars from buildings, bought drugs and solicited
prostitutes for six months to identify and file warrants on those peddling
their illegal trade.

The prosecution of these cases is handled by the office of Scott County
Attorney Bill Davis, who believes stings are one of the most effective
tools available to police, even if they are not a cure-all.

Many first-time offenders are never seen by authorities again, Davis said.

"There is no bigger deterrent in the world than arresting someone where
they aren't supposed to be," he said. "Public humiliation is a great tool."

As for the 35 repeat offenders in this year's sting in and around the 800
block of West Third Street, Davis said: "It's just something we have to
keep addressing. There are always going to be people who don't conform."

Other communities have tried other tactics to reduce the drug and sex
trade, Davis said.

For example, he said, religious groups or organizations in some cities take
it upon themselves to videotape illegal activity and either contact police
or those involved in the activity. Davis does not condone those tactics,
calling them too risky for private citizens.

The police department's goals in performing these stings, Chief Bladel
said, are to decrease the drug and sex crimes in the area and to help make
the western portion of downtown more attractive to businesses.

"The reality is we want to stifle the growth and spread of unwholesome
environments," Bladel said.

Rethinking Strategy

Critics believe eradicating the drug and sex trade cannot be solved by the
police, or stings, alone.

"After two decades of trying the law-enforcement approach, we're not safer
and we're not healthier," said Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug
Policy. "This is a public health issue, and the police are not equipped to
deal with a public health issue.

"Drug abuse is a public health problem with social and economic
consequences," he said.

Instead, Zeese said, put the money for massive enforcement into social
service treatment programs and education for children. His group advocates
making treatment for drug abuse something that is covered by health insurance.

Zeese also recommends that local governments set up task forces comprised
of city and county leaders and health officials to take a different
approach. Cities like San Francisco and Detroit have done so with some
success, he said.

The man who leads the vice squad for the Davenport Police Department agrees
law enforcement cannot clean up this problem by itself.

"We do what we can, but it's a problem that has to be attacked by a number
of different directions," Lt. Scott Sievert said.

Barry Holman with the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives said
stings often bring in people who commit "relatively low level, minor crimes."

"It's certainly not going to change the environment," he said. "It's not
going to change a seedy neighborhood."

Society is not willing to put more money into hospitalizing the people who
need help with substance abuse and mental health problems, County Attorney
Davis said.

And, he said, society also is not willing to spend the money on new prisons.

The stings by the police will continue, Davis and Bladel said.

"This is as effective a tool as I know of for law enforcement," Davis said.
"Things do quiet down for awhile until the presence is forgotten down there."