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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.