An excellent post about community being involved and not being afraid of your neighbor.  This post is from the Minneapolis Online Issues List.

Carl 

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Jim (gemgram), I thought your post was an excellent, clear picture of
what is needed.  Thank you for writing it.   You described what is
needed in a way that showed that it is possible and that residents can
accomplish it with the help of law enforcement and that they can "hold
the ground" while the fighters continue to move forward.

While the criminal problem here is very serious, the biggest "fight"
has been the attempt to get the residents to step outside their homes
and do something.  The two voices who argued long and hard for
neighborhood patrols this past summer were two middle-aged women,
myself and a local pastor.  It is amazing to me that the two of us seem
to have more courage and willingness than most of the men in our
neighborhoods.  I think our primary problem is the fear residents allow
to control them.   Until we beat the fear, we aren't going to beat the
crime.  I hate to say it, but sometimes I think something must happen
that gets people totally outraged enough so they don't even think about
being afraid.  I would hate to see that happen, but it sure feels like
beating one's head against the proverbial wall to rouse people to stand
up for their community.

Before I insult some of the men in our neighborhood, I must say that
there are a few, perhaps 6 to 8, who have stood up and have been
willingly to stand up.  But that is not enough.  One of our
neighborhood patrols, the time when the two middle-aged women ended up
chasing a drug dealer down 26th Ave N to keep him in sight and keep MPD
informed of his whereabouts via cell phone, consisted of two male
Jordan staff members and five women.

A plan was proposed two years ago that would have allowed us to patrol
the neighborhood from 4 to 8 p.m. six days a week.  It needed 100
volunteers (out of 4,500 adults in the neighborhood) who were willing
to walk once every two weeks for two hours.  We got a lot of initial
sign-ups, but when it came to really making it happen, we could not get
more than 6 people who were willing.  This must change.

Even as we talk about finding a way to get the neighborhood into a
"cleaned up," safe status, we must be aware that we cannot keep MPD or
the National Guard or whoever does the majority of the cleanup on the
streets forever.  It is the residents that have to find a way to keep
them clean after that.

I was amazed 18 months ago when I listened to St. Paul Chief of Police
John Harrington talk about what was done in Frogtown.  It was the
grandmothers and the businessmen, he said, he stepped up to make the
change.  The grandmothers invited the cops into their homes to observe
and film the action on the street outside their homes and apartments.  
When I suggested something similar to Tim Dolan recently, he expressed
concern that if we did that, the criminals would be able to pinpoint
where such evidence was collected and could retaliate against the
people helping the police.  I understand that, and I appreciate his
concern.  But it keeps bringing us back to that sense of "there's
nothing we can do."

Sam's Club is selling color security cameras that are wireless (2
cameras and a receiver for $129).  There are many sources on the
internet for these kinds of devices.  How about putting the cameras up
on light poles and putting the receivers (and any controls that allow
more sophisticated cameras to be panned and zoomed remotely) in
volunteer's homes.  With limited police manpower, couldn't citizens be
set up to record what is happening?  That would give two options:  
Record all day long (or have motion-activated cameras) and have
citizens review the tape and forward the pertinent parts to the police,
or have citizens observe and turn on the recording when deals are going
down.

We need some creative thinking here.  If we don't have enough cops on
the street, and it sure seems like we don't, then let's find a way to
utilize concerned citizens to help, whether it's in providing eyes on
the street, monitors of security cameras, or in other ways.  I think
both the police and the residents want a solution.  What seems to be
missing is a partnership that allows all to participate and help solve
the problem.  If a resident could be taping a drug deal safely while it
is going down and forwarding that to the police, they are less likely
to feel frustrated that the police are too busy to respond quickly
enough.  Something like this can help community-police relations as
well if we are working together.

I know some people do not agree with the surveillance idea, fearing
either (1) people will be "spying" on them when they are doing nothing,
or (2) that their kids may be the ones dealing.  I don't like the idea
myself, but the choice between gathering evidence to put dealers out of
business and watching our children dying in the streets is not an easy
one.  I've held the mother of one of those young men in my arms as she
cried and cried over his senseless death (and in this case, it was
senseless, a case of mistaken identity).  It was heartbreaking.  No
mother or father or sister or brother or son or daughter should have to
go through that.

Again, thanks, Jim.

Dottie Titus

Carl