President Salutes 2 Local Drug Warriors

Drug dealers have a nickname for Rosa Perez. They call her “La Dedo (The Finger),” because she’s not afraid to point them out to the police.

Perez, a mother of three, is hated by the drug dealers in her neighborhood. She often carries a broomstick to scare away the thugs who harass her and her children. But she is not afraid of them, she says.

Despite threats of retaliation, this 38-year-old housewife has reported more than 400 crimes and helped police make more than 100 drug-related arrests in her six-year effort to rid her neighborhood of drugs, according to police officials.

On Friday, President Bush publicly commended Perez and Santa Ana Police Detective Henry Cousin as “heroes” in the war on drugs. Perez and Cousin, who were recommended for the honor by Santa Ana police, sat on the dais behind Bush as he spoke to about 13,000 people at Santa Ana Stadium.

Cousin, 51, who is on loan to the FBI to work in a special drug task force in Santa Ana, is no stranger to heroics. Three years ago, he was seriously wounded during a drug raid. He was shot in the mouth and the bullet exited through his neck. After months of physical therapy, he recovered and went back on duty.

In 1987, Cousin was honored with a special commendation for saving the life of a 58-year-old woman who wanted to commit suicide in a mall parking lot. She had doused herself with gasoline, lit a match and set herself afire.

Cousin dashed to his car and grabbed a blanket. He tore her burning clothes off and wrapped her in the blanket. He then ordered bystanders to call for help. The woman survived. For his quick action, Cousin was honored by his peers.

For all her calls to the police, Perez is looked upon as an enemy by the drug dealers and gang members who call her neighborhood their turf.

Perez and her family live in a ground-floor apartment on South Baker Street, in a neighborhood racked by narcotics dealing and other crimes. From her window, Perez can see drug dealers openly selling from the streets, she said.

“I feel like I want to vomit every time I see them sell drugs. I don’t want these drugs near my children,” Perez said through a translator during an interview.

The family cannot afford to move from the neighborhood. Perez’s husband, Salvadore, a field hand, said their one-bedroom apartment was the best they could afford for now.

The Perez family has had to pay a price for Rosa Perez’s refusal to ignore the drug dealings going on in the neighborhood. The family car has been broken into eight times. The tires were slashed the last time by a neighbor. She has received more than a dozen death threats. And the exterior of their apartment has been sprayed with gang slogans and threats.

But she refuses to back down.

“They want me to stop calling the police so they can take over the whole neighborhood. But I won’t. This is my home,” said Perez, who came to the United States from Mexico in 1978. She is in the amnesty program and hopes to become a citizen soon, she said.

Four years ago, Perez helped the police arrest a woman who was crazed on PCP, a powerful animal tranquilizer known as “angel dust.” The woman wrestled an officer down to the ground in front of the Perez’s apartment. Perez, who was pregnant at the time, witnessed the struggle.

Pumped up with the drug, the suspect was able to toss away the officer’s walkie-talkie, preventing him from calling for help. Perez, who did not have a telephone, grabbed the walkie-talkie and managed to radio for help. Within minutes, five patrol cars arrived and the suspect was arrested.

After Bush commended her, Perez was still in awe Friday afternoon. She said she has been a nervous wreck since she was told about the commendation Tuesday.

“I haven’t slept for three days. I keep thinking, ‘Why would he honor me? I’m a nobody,’ ” Perez said.

Jose Vargas, the Santa Ana Police Department’s Hispanic affairs officer, said he had no doubts about Perez’s contribution.

“She’s a mother standing up to all these dealers,” Vargas said. “You can’t find a better hero.”