DA and Mayor Hail Success of Anti-Crime Initiative

Drug crime at Terrace-Bedell neighborhood plummets 87%

MINEOLA, NY – After a year of increased police patrols, job training, education assistance and alcohol and drug counseling, a crime-ridden neighborhood in the Village of Hempstead has seen its drug crime rate fall by 87%, according to statistics released by Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice at a press conference Tuesday.

The Terrace-Bedell Initiative was launched a year ago by Rice, Hempstead Mayor Wayne Hall and neighborhood activists and clergy.  The crime-reduction initiative incorporated a blend of zero-tolerance law enforcement and social service assistance for neighborhood residents committed to transforming the blighted neighborhood.

According to crime statistics, the neighborhood saw an 87% reduction in drug crime and a 10% reduction in major crime during 2008.  When the reductions are compiled, the neighborhood saw a 73% reduction in crime.

“This initiative targeted the open-air drug market, and we knew that if we could dismantle the market, the violence would also decrease,” said Rice.

Beginning in the summer of 2007, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office and the Nassau County and Hempstead Police Departments began collecting evidence against suspected drug dealers in the neighborhood.  After months of investigation, authorities identified approximately 50 main dealers making up the community’s open-air drug market.  Based on their violent or lengthy criminal histories, more than 35 of those dealers were arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  Thirteen suspected dealers were given a one-time offer to go straight, or to be prosecuted for their suspected drug deals.  Based on their drug abuse and relatively minimal non-violent criminal histories, these individuals were dealers authorities felt might be able to contribute to the neighborhood’s transformation.  The suspected dealers were given intensive social service assistance that included job training, addiction treatment, educational assistance, and behavior modification counseling.  These services were also made available to the community at-large. 

After removing the drug-dealing population and offering the necessary social services to residents, authorities increased police patrols and had zero tolerance for the open-air drug market that has thrived in the neighborhood for decades.  Rice said that the patrols have decreased as the community has begun to take control and police themselves.

“This neighborhood is full of law-abiding families struggling to provide a safe place for their children,” said Rice.  “They deserve the same quality of life as any other neighborhood in this county and that’s what we are working day and night to give them.  Our goal was for the police to provide such a presence that the community would eventually be able to stand up to the dealers, the loiterers, the vandals, and say ‘we don’t want you here’.  That transformation and that self-policing has started in this neighborhood and that’s the kind of thing that leads to sustained crime-reduction.”

In September, Rice and the Long Island Building and Trades Union launched a pre-apprenticeship training for individuals interested in careers in building and trades.  The first class of 17 graduated from the program in November.  The second class is scheduled to begin at the beginning of February.

“Jobs are a key component to crime reduction,” said Rice.  “Over the long run, the jobs we are trying to help people secure are family-supporting careers.”

During the past year, more than a hundred residents have taken advantage of some form of assistance.  Only three of the original 13 suspected dealers have been re-arrested.

"This collaborative effort between the Village, Nassau County District Attorney's Office and our police department to reduce crime and improve quality of life on Terrace Avenue is a fight we are waging on several fronts," stated Mayor Wayne J. Hall. "Thanks to the increase in police monitoring, the reform program for drug offenders and our community meetings, we have made tremendous progress."

Rice said that the increase in police patrols has been paid for out of the office’s forfeiture budget.  Forfeiture funds are the monies seized from convicted defendants.  Rice said that the few hundred thousand dollars used to fund the patrols pales in comparison to the amount of taxpayer money it would take to prosecute and incarcerate the 108 drug crimes the initiative has deterred.

Rice said that if you assume conservatively that defendants arrested for drug crimes spend an average of 100 days in jail during their case, at $279 a day for incarceration that amounts to more than $3 million in savings and that doesn’t even include court and prosecutorial costs associated with each case.

“Not only are criminals picking up the tab on the front end, the success of this initiative is also saving taxpayer dollars on the back end,” said Rice.  “In addition to being tough on crime, this initiative is smart on the pocketbook.”

Rice also said at the press conference that there has been no evidence of the displacement among drug dealers in the village since the launch of the initiative.  Of the 87 people arrested in the village on felony drug charges from January to mid-November in 2008, only five of the defendants had previously been arrested for a felony drug crime in the Terrace-Bedell neighborhood within the last three years.