You be the judge

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: June 16, 2008

Citizen concern — and pressure — have led the Danville Police Department to change the way it fights street crime.

“The true success is, Does the public have a sense of safety and security?” Danville Police Chief Philip Broadfoot said Friday.

Street crime — and the fear it generates among law-abiding people — changes not only behavior, but people’s perception of their community. When Broadfoot talks about the “sense of safety and security,” what he really means is the fear people have that they will be victimized.

Many of the crimes we hear about involve people who are themselves involved in crime, such as selling, buying and using illegal drugs. Other crimes are the result of unique circumstances, like a small group of juveniles burglarizing houses during the summer months.

But the crimes that get the most attention are the random attacks against people who are minding their own business — purse snatchings, daytime burglaries and robberies in high-traffic, public locations.

The Danville Police Department will increase patrols — including foot patrols — in shopping centers and around Danville Regional Medical Center. It will expand two northside beats to overlap the Piedmont Mall-Coleman MarketPlace-Piedmont Drive shopping district. It will work to serve more warrants, concentrate on high-crime neighborhoods and change the way it handles some drug cases.

One of the criticisms of the Danville Police Department — and other local departments — was the time it took to bring charges against drug dealers. During the course of the investigation, drug dealing could get well established in a certain neighborhood, street, house or apartment. Even after the inevitable arrests, there would still be dealers and buyers left.

For years, police have conceded as much after announcing the arrests of large numbers of “street-level” dealers by saying they were taking a temporary bite out of the drug trade. It wasn’t an inspiring conclusion to a lot of police work.

Danville police will now work to catch dealers in the act and arrest them much more quickly. They will work to enforce the curfew, hold more traffic checkpoints and even do periodic sweeps.

The idea is to disrupt criminal activity.

The police department also will rely more on its community policing officers, regional partners on the drug task force and state and federal help.

“We’ve got to respond to the needs of the community,” Danville City Manager Jerry Gwaltney said. “We think it’s worth the effort. It’s our job to try to get in front of it.”

Crime affects this entire community in one way or the other. The Danville Police Department’s new anti-crime plans won’t succeed until people believe the changes have made this a safer place to live.