Bennett Has Nothing, Except Praise, for School’s Drug-Fighting Efforts

William J. Bennett, the national drug policy coordinator, visited a San Diego elementary school Thursday, and, although impressed with community efforts to battle drugs, he would not pledge any federal money to local law enforcement.

Bennett visited Sherman Elementary School in Sherman Heights to review a creative effort by educators and police to combat drugs in the neighborhood.

Principal Cecilia Estrada told Bennett that the streets surrounding the school once were besieged by drug dealers. Parents were afraid to send their children to school, but they were also afraid to approach the police with information about dealers.

In 1985, Estrada and Deputy Police Chief Manuel Guaderrama met with parents and developed a partnership. Two officers were assigned to patrol a 25-square-block area around the school, and other officers volunteered to tutor students.

The result, Estrada told Bennett, was that “the police were able to understand our community.” And the children, who were used to negative experiences with the police, could now say, “ ‘I remember the police officer, he showed me how to do my multiplication table,’ ” Estrada said.

The difference in the streets was noticeable, she said. There was less drug dealing, and the parents now go directly to the officers with tips, instead of using the school as an intermediary as in the beginning.

“While we are not at the point where we would like to be--there is still drug dealing out there--we have made a substantial start,” she said.

Bennett praised the efforts.

“Because of what those officers do, citizens feel more confident in going out and doing their own business,” he said. “Law-abiding people have to feel that the streets belong to them, not to the drug dealers.

“That doesn’t mean that you are out there with nightsticks and revolvers, like police officers. But . . . when you are doing your own business you are sending the most important signal--that ‘these are our streets, not yours.’ ”

But the signal that Bennett gave Mayor Maureen O’Connor and Police Chief Bob Burgreen was that the costs of paying for programs such as the special police patrol around the school would still come out of local budgets.

Afterward, Bennett told reporters that federal money in Southern California will be used in anti-drug efforts at the border.

“There are problems in San Diego--the federal government can provide some assistance--but it is primarily the responsibility of San Diego and the state of California, and that point has to be made over and over again,” he said.

Southern California, especially at its border with Mexico, has been designated as a “high-intensity drug trafficking area,” Bennett said.

“You will see a federal strike force going after the major criminal organizations . . . . You are going to see a small army of ‘Eliot Nesses’ all across this border . . . from Texas through Los Angeles.”

Although O’Connor and Burgreen appreciated Bennett’s visit, they were unimpressed with his comments. Burgreen said he also had been given no indication that San Diego would receive more federal help in its anti-drug efforts.

Last year, O’Connor said, San Diego received about $1 million from federal coffers for local law enforcement.

“We have a chief that is frustrated because they (the police) have to give tickets to criminals because they can’t put them in jail, and that is a state and federal responsibility.”

O’Connor said Congress must be persuaded to give more money to the cities. She said a conference of mayors and governors will meet in Washington next week to devise a plan that will permit cities to receive money directly from the federal government. Bypassing the state would mean that money would reach the cities faster.