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Drug Dealing Returns to Billy Taylor Park!
Basketball Games used as a cover for drug dealers to ply their trade!
This week I witnessed drug dealing return to Camp Street and especially to Billy Taylor Park. The dealers seem to be using the basketball league games in the park as a cover to do their deals, trying to blend in with the people who are legititmately there to enjoy the games.
The dealers loiter at the edge of the Park next to the house on the corner of Camp and Locust. They move around the corner to Locust Street to complete their deals or they drive around the block, Pleasant to Knowles to Camp.
If I know it, why do the police allow it?
The first few games went without incident, but each subsequent game has brought more and more unsettling activity.
An increase in activity has also been reported on the corner of Knowles and Jenkins.
Until our District 8 police develop an understanding of these tactics the dealers will operate freely.
While the foot-patrol effectively establishes a visible police presence in Mt. Hope, I wonder at the efficacy of this type of policing to combat the type of drug dealing we are presently witnessing.
Familiarity breeds contempt. I have seen our rookie officers on the beat occaisionaly looking like deer caught in the headlights. Their lack of experience may somtimes be a hinderance in dealing with street savvy Mt. Hope drug dealers.
If you give up the element of surprise, you put yourself at a disadvantage, and I'm afraid that is what our community police are doing. You can never relax long enough to congratulate yourself here in Mt. Hope.
Whenever there is any activity in Billy Taylor Park we need a strong police presence especially during the Basketball League games.
We should not cede the streets back to the thugs and punks who deal drugs. Invite them to dinner at your house if you wish, but they are not welcome in my neighborhood.
John Twomey
Posted at August 5, 2005 12:23 AM