Hillyard Residents Force Out Drug Suspects

With a video camera, floodlights and a dog named Ozzie, a group of neighbors in the Hillyard neighborhood helped police force residents of three suspected drug houses into leaving.

After two years of round-the-clock work the dozen neighbors living near the intersection of Regal Street and Nebraska Avenue say they are proud.

“This is what happens when you go as a neighborhood,” said David Brinkley, the Block Watch captain. “It doesn’t work when you do it yourself.”

The group of neighbors targeted four residences within three blocks that they and police suspected housed drug operations. Neighbors declared war on the residents by monitoring them, recording every car and visitor, and turning the information over to the Police Department’s drug enforcement division.

The neighbors created a phone network to inundate Crime Check with calls each time one saw suspected criminal activity. They bought high-powered floodlights attached to motion detectors to discourage traffic through an alley near the suspected drug houses.

And they sent letters to landlords, signed by 17 residents.

The reams of documentation gave police enough information to arrest two residents of the houses for drug possession. The third house was cleared out within days of a newspaper article giving details of the Safe Streets Now program.

Members of the group did not give their names, fearing retaliation. But they did give this advice to others hoping to rid neighborhoods of suspected drug houses:

Buy lights attached to motion detectors for dark alleys.

Get a big, loud dog. Ozzie, the 8-year-old Doberman owned by one neighbor, served as protection.

Fence your yard.

Set up a phone tree to keep in contact with each other and with police.

Document everything. A video camera helps, but be sure to tape over the red indicator light.

Contact your neighborhood COPS substation.

, DataTimes