NORTH PHILLY DRUG DEALERS SAY SAFE STREETS HAS FAILED TO STOP THEIR BUYERS OR THEIR BUSINESS

by JUSTIN "SOUL-ONE" BEDFORD October 2003 BLOCKS UP AND ONE BLOCK OVER … WHEREEVER THERE'S A DEMAND THERE'S GON' BE SUPPLY, Y'KNOW WHAT I MEAN? AN ANECDOTAL AUDIT OF JOHN STREET'S ANTI-CRIME PROGRAM, PART 2 OF 2 Bordered by Ridge Avenue, Fairmount Avenue, and N. 19th Street, Francisville is one of the North Philadelphia communities covered by Operation Safe Streets, Mayor John Street's $100 million program to increase neighborhood police presence. Safe Streets began in May 2002, when the Philadelphia Police Department started patrolling the city's most drug-ridden areas intensively, concentrating on 300 street corners with histories of drug arrests and violent crime. As a resident of Francisville, I see Operation Safe Streets in action nearly every day. To complement last month's interview with Safe Streets police officers, THE PHILADELPHIA INDEPENDENT asked me to interview street-corner drug dealers about their perspectives on Safe Streets and its overall effectiveness. Initially I was intimidated by the assignment, not because I was afraid to approach these guys (some even occasionally sit on my steps), but rather because I wanted to present their views in an unbiased manner. I talk to these guys everyday, so I know most of their stories. Some are in school or have gone to college, some work, some are fathers, some have criminal records and some do not. Some aspire to greater things in life and have made positive strides towards their goals. Some have not. What follows is a transcription of my interview with K-Rock and Shizz, two guys who have dealt illegal drugs in the midst of Operation Safe Streets: How has operation Safe Streets affected you? -Rock (K): To me, it really don't affect business, you know? It's just a matter of shifting. All you gon' do is go two blocks up and one block over. Know what I'm saying? You can't stop business. Business gon' come. Wherever there's a demand there's gon' be a supply, so really, it doesn't matter. Street economics, y'know what I mean? If that's the word you wanna use. It really don't matter, you can't stop nuttin'. Long as somebody wanna get high, somebody gon' find a drug to sell it. So, ain't no safe streets. [Police] make $90,000 dollars a year for standin' out? Doin' whatever you wanna do? Basically just wastin' time. Basically just sittin' out with your eyes and your ears open … you not gonna see, ya not gonna really see nuttin'. 'Cause who gon' sell drugs in front of you? Who gon' shoot somebody in front of you? Not too many people gon' do that. So basically you standin' out there jus' being who you are. How has Safe Streets changed your daily routine? K: It hasn't. How have the behavior and enforcement methods of police officers changed during the program? Shizz (SZ): Some a them mu'fuckas think that they can talk—talk to you like shit though, and think that you can't say nuffin' back though like we ain't got rights either though. But sometimes, they starts the bullshit. I think I can speak my mind. I think if he say somethin' to me, I can speak my mind, man. I know you a cop and I'm gon' respect you as you a cop but you not gon' say what you wanna say to me an' think I'm not gon' say nothing back to you. We people, ya' mean? K: They sayin', “Well I'll lock you up for disorderly conduct.” How? Why? SZ: But when you know your rights, they switch up quick. K: Like, a lot a times I'll talk to an officer and they'll view me like, “Aw, this a street thug. He don't know what he talkin' about.” But then once they realize that I have a college degree and that I work, then they wanna backtrack. In terms of people that buy from you, have they had to watch out more? K: Two blocks up and one block over. Ya do have to be aware cause ya not gon' do nothin' in front of 'em. Has the volume increased or decreased? K: 'S basically just rerouted. Then it doesn't really matter because, if you shut down ... then somebody else is gon' open. The volume is gon' stay the same. If I wanna get high, I'm gon' get high. If I gotta catch the bus and go to Germantown, I'll do that. If you not gon' be open, the person down the street gon' be open, the person 'round the corner, the person 'cross town. I'm gon' find some way to get high. So, it doesn't matter, you got cops standin' on this block, I'm gon' go catch the bus, catch the sub, walk twenty, thirty blocks 'til I find somebody that got somethin'. So the volume doesn't stop. Maybe for that particular moment it slowed up, but they gon' come back or they gon' find somewhere else to go. And then that particular person standin' out there, he's gon' find some place else to go. So it's not gon' stop. So overall, how effective do you think the whole program has been? SZ: Non-effective. K: Safe Streets overall has not been effective, man. It's a whole big sham. You can turn ya' back to it like, “Yeah Safe Streets is really helpin'” but in reality, if you wanna help the community, help the community by doin' what you have to do. Where ya'll school supplies? You don't got money to pay teachers? You don't got money for school supplies? After school from 3 to 9, which is basically kids' time, what are you gonna do? What … what do we have to do? If there was a center, that means I could have a job. You know, I could be a counselor. I can serve food, ya'nah'm saying? I can clean up the place. So if you wanna spend some money, if you wanna spend millions an' millions of dollars, don't spend millions an' millions of dollars sendin' people, havin' people standin' on the corner watchin' other people, spend millions of dollars developin' programs where somebody can have an actual real chance of survivin' the game. Everybody in law enforcement, they know ... when they first came up with the idea of building more jails, hiring more police officers, bringing back the death penalty. It's not workin', it's never been workin'. So, why would you keep increasing police presence? It's not gon' deter crime, ya'know? What helps deter crime is when you spend money in the community. I say from [age] 6 to 25, you should have something in the community for those guys to do. Back in the day, I use to go to this place called Can Do. It was a community center after-school program, y'know, where you could go to karate, ya'nah mean? And it was good for the community and that helps. Because it gives somebody else something else to do … besides hanging 'round the wrong guys, being in the wrong place, doin' the wrong things, y'nah'm saying? If you can go there play ping-pong, PlayStation, pool, and you have some things to do… then that's less time you gon' spend out here … hangin' around with nothin' to do … seein' other stuff that's goin' on … that you don't need to be seein' when you a young guy. You know, you … you 12 years old, you standin' around somebody 25, I mean what you expect is gon' happen when he turn 18, 19 years old with nothin' to do? I'm 'a do what I know. But if you gave him sometin' else to do, like somewhere where he can go on trips, where he can learn things, where you can get these guys that's standin' with nothin' to do to become counselors the help serve the community better by, you know, havin' somethin' some kinda structure, some kinda program that's backin' them … that helps deter crime. But just incarceratin' and oppressin', that's not gon' stop nothing. Justin “Soul-One” Bedford is finishing his B.A. in communications at Drexel University. He has lived in North Philadelphia all of his life. He also hopes to grow old and die there.