May 21--Crime and blight have begun to creep back into the B Street area on the outskirts of downtown since Fayetteville police stopped an intensive campaign to clean up the neighborhood, a community watch leader says.
Gena Johnson, who coordinates the neighborhood's community watch, said the ramped-up police patrols and arrests that began in the fall of 2008 were a godsend.
"It was like going into a house and seeing the roaches run," the 60-year-old said, rocking on her front porch where she hangs ferns and feeds feral cats.
But when police left about a year later to target another neighborhood, the prostitutes and drug dealers -- once all too common -- started to return, Johnson said.
"There's some big drug dealers that come through here," she said.
The community of short streets, around Pauline Jones Elementary School off Grove Street, was the focus of the Police Department's novel initiative that aimed to reclaim the neighborhood. The collaborative effort involved several city departments and community meetings with residents, church leaders and nearby business owners. Abandoned houses were knocked down, and discarded furniture and other trash left outside were picked up.
The city moved the intensive effort to Bonnie Doone off Bragg Boulevard in 2010, and last month officials announced they would target two smaller areas next: Bunce Road, which is off Cliffdale Road; and Jasper Street, which intersects Murchison Road next to a small market.
Police have touted the B Street model as a successful way to rehabilitate a neighborhood that has grappled with crime and eyesores for decades. Police Chief Tom Bergamine made the initiative a cornerstone in his 2009 community wellness plan in response to a spike in citywide crime the year before. His plan seeks to lower crime through several police programs and policy initiatives.
But Johnson's concerns raise questions about the long-term effectiveness of the B Street initiative and how police can help prevent a neighborhood relapse.
Gavin MacRoberts, a Fayetteville police spokesman, said police acknowledge crime remains a problem in the B Street area, but the levels are nowhere near where they stood before 2008. Police continue to patrol the area.
"We are also looking into complaints of increased crime in the neighborhood," he said.
According to MacRoberts, the B Street area had almost 900 crimes in fiscal 2008, compared with 363 in fiscal 2010 -- the most recent year provided by police.
The Fayetteville Observer used the Police Department's online crime-mapping software to examine trends for the B Street area over the past 12 months. The newspaper's review, which encompassed a smaller area than what was originally targeted by police, found a total of 83 larcenies reported during that span. It was the most frequent crime. Drug offenses were second with 47 cases. The area also saw 13 burglaries, 10 robberies and three prostitution offenses, among other crimes.
Community watch
Johnson, who has lived in the B Street area all of her life, joined the community watch group four years ago when police began the initiative. She takes drives through the neighborhood in her 1991 Ford pickup, ready to call police if she sees suspicious activity.
"Neighbors are scared to death to call police," she said, referring to fears of retaliation.
But she's not. She said she keeps an aluminum bat at home and has two Chihuahuas that bark whenever somebody approaches her chain-link fence.
Councilwoman Kady-Ann Davy, who attends Johnson's monthly community watch meetings, said residents' concerns are valid. But she doesn't believe the neighborhood has badly deteriorated since the police initiative ended.
"I think there have been some strides and improvements," she said.
She was referring to the formation of the community watch group and the demolition of troublesome rental properties that attracted crime.
Both efforts are part of a long-term strategy for the program, MacRoberts said.
He said the city's new rental housing program, which is scheduled to get under way this summer, could "help keep things from getting back to the way things were before."
Under the program, landlords can be fined $1,000 if their properties or tenants attract too much crime and blight.
Davy said police should develop a better transition plan for when they move from one neighborhood to the next. Maybe set up a mobile command post to respond to occasional spikes in crime, she said.
MacRoberts said the department's mobile command post "is a tactic that we have used in the past, but it is only a temporary solution. In our experience, crime returns as soon as the mobile command post has left the area."
More effective ways to deal with spikes in crimes, he said, are high-visibility patrols and working closely with community watch groups.
Police and city officials have begun to scope out the next two target areas, which were chosen because of their high levels of crime and gang activity and large numbers of dilapidated houses, MacRoberts said. Kickoff community meetings in both areas will be announced soon.
Councilwoman Val Applewhite, whose district takes in Bunce Road, has long complained that the area needs more police presence and city resources. The area has numerous code violations, such as overgrown lots and illegally parked tractor-trailers, and it's not unusual for neighbors to hear gunshots late at night, she said.
"I hope this focus will encourage the citizens to organize a community watch and sustain it," she said.
Sandra Mitchell, founder of the newly formed Murchison Citizens Action Group, holds monthly meetings of all of the community watches along Murchison Road. She is glad the police will target Jasper Street, where loitering and break-ins are a problem.
"It's something we need and something we appreciate, and we'll work right along with them and do whatever needs to be done," she said.
Staff writer Andrew Barksdale can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3565.
Copyright 2012 - The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.
