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Combating crime with coffee and a smile
By Dan Olson
Minnesota Public Radio
October 15, 2002

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The war on drugs, one police official says, does not appear to be slowing illicit drug sales in some Minneapolis neighborhoods. On Bloomington Ave. in south Minneapolis, residents say the drug dealing is the worst they've seen in 20 years. Residents formed a citizen's patrol, which has caused some of the dealers to move. Police and neighbors say sellers are arrested and turned loose, only to return to the area.

Bloomington Ave. home
A citizens patrol has helped clear sidewalks in the Phillips neighborhood along Bloomington Ave. of chronic drug dealing and prostitution. The sign in this yard says "Say no to drugs."
(MPR Photo/Dan Olson)
 

Neighbors decided it was time to act when drug dealing on Bloomington Ave. resulted in a murder this summer. Resident Andre Alexander and others formed a citizen's patrol.

"We were to the point where we had crime and mayhem, and it's just not acceptable to this community," Alexander says.

Patrol member Dennis Galvin says the drug dealing was flagrant, taking place on sidewalks and even in the streets.

"There's a number of blocks where we were literally seeing school buses having to stop because of drug deals going on, and we were very concerned about that," Galvin says.

Early on, a few patrol members tried to break up drug deals, but a few of the altercations became threatening.

The philosophy of the Bloomington Ave. residents now is hospitality. Every weekday morning, volunteers hand out coffee and snacks at the 25th and Bloomington intersection. Most of the customers are children and adults waiting for buses. Once in a while, women engaged in prostitution drop by.

Bloomington Ave.
The volunteers along Bloomington Ave. gather every weekday morning to hand out coffee and snacks, and make sure children and others getting on buses at 25th and Bloomington don't have to worry about being accosted by drug dealers.
(MPR Photo/Dan Olson)
 

Volunteer Linda Leonard, standing next to her three school-age daughters, says the patrol has given her children an eye-opening -- if unwelcome -- education.

"I think that we've learned that some of the drug dealers and some of the prostitutes out here have very sad lives," Leonard says.

The effect of volunteers greeting people for two hours in the morning on a two-block length of Bloomington Ave. is to scatter the drug dealers. A young woman waiting for her school bus -- who declines to give her name -- says she feels safer.

"I don't see that many (drug dealers), but they always come back at night," she says.

Neighborhood residents praise police for their support. But they are frustrated that police are slow to respond at night. Minneapolis police inspector Sharon Lubinski, commander of the third precinct, says nights are busy and police are sometimes delayed in answering calls that aren't life-threatening.




"There's a number of blocks where we were literally seeing school buses having to stop because of drug deals going on, and we were very concerned about that."

- Bloomington Ave. resident Dennis Galvin



Police have received hundreds of calls from Bloomington Ave. residents frustrated about the drug dealing in their neighborhood. Lubinski says the problem is worse than in the past.

"I don't know why exactly it seems to be peaking this past summer over other times, but it is," Lubinski says.

Lubinski says police have confiscated more drugs this year than last, and that reflects increased supply.

"There's been what seems to a greater amount of narcotics available in the city," she says.

Lubinski says police repeatedly arrest a handful of small-time drug dealers who are addicted to what they're selling. She says they're sent to treatment only to return to the same area.

"As a community we need to look at that. Is that really the answer? (Do) we want to give treatment to someone 14 times and let them be arrested over 100 times?" Lubinski asks. "The answer to that is really the solution to solving the frustration of the folks along Bloomington."

Police and some community residents want judges to bar convicted dealers from Minneapolis neighborhoods where drug sales are a chronic problem.

More from MPR
  • Some drug dealers could be barred from crime areas
  • Fighting the drug war, one block at a time (Feb. 2002)