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- October 1990
-
-
- OPERATION CLEAN:
- RECLAIMING CITY NEIGHBORHOODS
-
- By
-
- Richard W. Hatler
- Deputy Chief
- Dallas, Texas, Police Department
-
-
- Dallas, Texas, faces the same problems as many other cities
- around the country. It has experienced the devastation of whole
- neighborhoods as drugs, particularly crack cocaine, destroy old
- ways of life and replace them with violence, thievery, and a
- feeling of hopelessness. One by one, communities in Dallas fell
- to drug dealers, only to become darkened marketplaces of the drug
- trade.
-
- To curb the growing tide of urban deterioration, the Dallas
- Police Department embarked on a broad-based program designed to
- reclaim neighborhoods and rid communities of the drug dealers who
- were responsible for most other crimes. Through Operation CLEAN
- (Community and Law Enforcement Against Narcotics), the Dallas
- Police Department serves as the catalyst for change, coordinating
- the full resources of the city toward target neighborhoods. The
- goal of this campaign is to return control of neighborhoods to
- the law-abiding residents who had been forced to surrender their
- communities to drug dealers.
-
- OPERATIONAL COMPONENTS
-
- The success of Operation CLEAN depends on the total support
- of the police department and city administrators. Fiscal
- efficiency is very important since many of the operations
- require large outlays of funds that should not be diverted from
- other programs. Therefore, it is essential that all
- participating city agencies work together to provide required
- services. Several municipal departments work together to make up
- Operation CLEAN components (the CLEAN Team), and each has
- specific responsibilities:
-
- * The police department is responsible for the removal of
- drug dealers, crime prevention training, intensive 24-
- hour personnel deployment, and coordination of Operation
- CLEAN activities.
-
- * The fire department checks properties for fire code
- violations and orders the closing of unoccupied
- buildings with safety violations.
-
- * The streets and sanitation department is responsible for
- the general clean-up of target areas; clearing alleys,
- trimming trees, and removing discarded furniture used by
- drug dealers.
-
- * The housing and neighborhood services department is
- responsible for strictly enforcing applicable city
- codes, referring unsalvageable properties to the Urban
- Rehabilitation Standards Board for demolition, and
- working with outside groups to obtain vacant lots for
- housing units.
-
- * The city attorney's office provides vigorous prosecution
- of code violations and aggressively seizes abandoned
- properties.
-
- Each component of the CLEAN Team is critical to the success
- of the operation. The CLEAN Team approaches neighborhood
- involvement with an eye toward addressing quality-of-life issues
- within the target area.
-
- TARGET SELECTION
-
- It is very important that a jurisdiction has sufficient
- resources to substantially impact the target area. The size of
- the neighborhood and the population density must be considered.
- In Dallas, it was determined that a target area should include no
- more than 10 square city blocks. Preliminary statistics and
- intelligence information concerning crime levels in the target
- area must be accurate so that adequate manpower can be devoted to
- the operation. The selected area should be large enough so that
- a significant impact can be made, but not so large that available
- resources are insufficient to accomplish the operation's
- objectives.
-
- The CLEAN Team established certain criteria that each target
- neighborhood had to meet before it could be accepted into the
- program. To be considered, an area had to be experiencing a high
- level of drug use and street distribution, a high crime level,
- and a high number of calls for police service. It was also
- determined that Operation CLEAN would be most effective in
- primarily residential areas, rather than industrial or business
- communities. This is due largely to the cooperative nature of
- the campaign and the need to ensure participation by all CLEAN
- Team components. To select an industrial area, for example,
- would limit the participation of the housing and neighborhood
- services department and could result in a loss of interest by the
- department in future operations.
-
- Another important consideration when selecting a target area
- is the attitude and potential of residents and business leaders
- in the area. An important element in the operation is the
- willingness of neighborhood residents to take control of their
- own communities. The greater the willingness of the residents to
- take control, the greater the probability that a long-term
- solution will result.
-
- IMPLEMENTATION
-
- Each Operation CLEAN project has basically seven phases.
- The level and type of activity varies in each phase.
-
- * PHASE ONE--The most appropriate target area is selected.
- Because undercover operations will begin in phase two,
- only selected individuals within the police department
- are involved in this decision process. The other CLEAN
- Team departments are not advised of the target area
- until phase three.
-
- * PHASE TWO--Narcotics Division detectives infiltrate the
- target area. Detectives make undercover buys and use
- confidential informants to obtain information for search
- and arrest warrants. This phase normally lasts 5 to 14
- days. The objective is to identify as many drug
- dealers, drug distributors, and drug dealing locations
- as possible.
-
- * PHASE THREE--This is the first overt enforcement phase,
- which is initiated by executing simultaneously all
- search and arrest warrants within the target area.
- Uniformed officers, plainclothes detectives, and canine
- and horse patrols saturate the neighborhood so that the
- police department has almost total control of the target
- area. In Dallas, as many as 100 officers are normally
- involved in this phase. The news media is contacted
- prior to implementation, so that extensive media
- exposure will accompany this phase. The objective of
- this phase is to remove as many drug dealers from the
- target area as possible.
-
- * PHASE FOUR--Phase Four begins as phase three is being
- executed. During this phase, eight uniformed officers
- and a sergeant are assigned specifically to the target
- area 24 hours a day. A total of 24 officers and 3
- sergeants are assigned to the area to cover all three
- shifts. This phase lasts 2 weeks.
-
- During this phase, officers take aggressive enforcement
- action against all criminal activity, including traffic
- violations. The objective is to disrupt the pattern of
- criminal activity that has existed in the area.
-
- Also during this phase, all CLEAN Team departments meet
- to discuss and visit the target area. All team members
- become active during phase four. Personnel from the
- Community Services Division begin to organize local
- residents into Crime Watch groups. One important
- component of this phase is to inform the residents of
- the target area of the objectives of the CLEAN Team.
-
- * PHASE FIVE--This phase is a continuation of phase four,
- but the intensive police contingency is reduced to
- operating 16 hours per day. Other Operation CLEAN
- efforts continue. During this phase, which lasts 2
- weeks, control of the target area is gradually
- transferred to legitimate community members.
-
- * PHASE SIX--This is a continuation of phase five, except
- that the police contingency is further reduced. One
- shift of eight officers and a sergeant is assigned
- during the most active 8-hour period, usually in the
- evening. A walking beat is established and will
- continue after the operation has been completed. Other
- team members complete their activities. Increased
- control is transferred to community residents.
-
- * PHASE SEVEN--This is the follow-up and evaluation phase.
- Any needs identified in earlier stages that have not
- been met will be assigned to specific individuals. Each
- team member critiques the success of the operation and
- cites where future improvement can be made. An
- operational report is prepared and forwarded to the city
- manager's office.
-
- RESULTS
-
- Since the adoption of the program, there have been several
- Operation CLEAN projects. Operation CLEAN I was initiated on
- March 11, 1989. The target area was a 6-square block
- neighborhood used by drug dealers and overrun by violence and
- criminal activity. In the 6-week period prior to March 11th, a
- total of 336 calls for police service had been received from the
- area. There had been 26 violent crimes and 9 property crimes
- reported during this period. In addition, the department
- continually received reports of gunfire in the area, both day and
- night.
-
- During the execution of 14 search warrants in the third
- phase of Operation CLEAN I, 630 packets of crack cocaine and 76
- packets of marijuana were seized. Several weapons were also
- confiscated. During phase four, 289 arrests were made and 200
- traffic citations issued. An additional 106 arrests were made
- during phase five, and 39 arrests were made in phase six.
-
- During the 6 weeks of Operation CLEAN I, the number of calls
- for police service decreased 40 percent and Crime Index offenses
- were reduced by 71 percent.
-
- When Operation CLEAN I was completed in May 1989, many
- significant changes to the target area had been realized.
- Criminal activity in the target area had been significantly
- reduced, the neighborhood had been cleared of 1,000 cubic yards
- of debris, and construction began on new buildings that replaced
- dilapidated structures. An active Crime Watch Program was
- created, and most important, concerned citizens regained control
- of their neighborhood. Overall, there has been a dramatic
- improvement in the quality of life in the target area as a result
- of Operation CLEAN I.
-
- CONCLUSION
-
- As Operation CLEAN demonstrates, local law enforcement can
- work with other city departments to improve the quality of life
- for residents living in areas overrun by drug dealing and
- violence. In Dallas, the police department decided to take a
- lead role in coordinating these efforts.
-
- Because Operation CLEAN is manpower intensive, its
- effectiveness depends on the willingness of both city council and
- police managers to devote appropriate resources. As past
- Operation CLEAN projects demonstrate, however, these expenditures
- result in reductions in calls for police service and a decrease
- in criminal activity in target areas. In the long-term, this
- will save patrol and investigative resources that can be used
- elsewhere in the police budget.
-
- As more communities become affected by the drug problem,
- public calls for innovative programs and new initiatives to
- combat rising criminal activity will require law enforcement
- agencies around the country to rethink existing strategies. The
- Operation CLEAN program is one approach to reclaim lost
- communities.