Cornering the Illegal Drug Market : Crime: One of the city’s hottest spots for drug dealing and assaults day or night is 11th Avenue and C Street. Police patrols and arrests do little to stop it.

It was 7 p.m. on a Thursday evening, and the “vendors” were doing a brisk business at 11th Avenue and C Street in downtown San Diego. Drugs and money were exchanging hands in half a dozen transactions, without any attempt by dealers or buyers to hide from the police.

“You the police?” asked one young dealer, who casually glanced at a reporter who stood less than 10 feet away and watched as he sold $5 bags of marijuana to a couple of men.

The young man, undeterred by the presence of a stranger, asked the question with indifference.

And why not? Even if arrested, he probably would be issued a misdemeanor citation and released. Crowding at county jails has made it almost impossible to jail someone charged with misdemeanor drug counts.

“It’s very frustrating,” said San Diego Police Officer Jim Filley. “We do make some arrests, but most of the time we can only issue misdemeanor citations. If they are arrested, they only spend a few hours in custody. It’s especially frustrating when you keep citing and arresting the same people every day.”

Unlike many areas in the city where drug dealing is most prevalent at night, drug sales take place at all hours of the day at 11th and C. In fact, police describe the area on C between 11th and 12th as one of the hottest spots for narcotics activity in San Diego.

One of the major reasons, they say, is the convenient location to customers. Some are suburbanites heading down 11th, which leads to on-ramps to both Interstate 5 and California 163. Others are students from nearby San Diego City College, or junkies who hang out at the Qwik Korner convenience store on the corner. In addition, one of the trolley’s most popular stops, that at 12th Avenue, is nearby.

According to Filley, marijuana, heroin, crystal methamphetamine and crack cocaine are the most popular drugs sold on the block.

On this recent Thursday, an unkempt man approached another in a business suit, who quickly made a beeline for the convenience store.

“You looking for a little weed or a toot?” the dealer of marijuana and rock cocaine yelled at the man, who did not respond.

The dealer, who called himself Maurice, was not reluctant to admit that he spends his days selling drugs.

“Man, we’re part of the economy,” he said. “You know, providing a service, meeting demand. Look around. How many people do you see here who are saying no to drugs? They’re keeping me

and my partners off welfare,” he said.

The prevalence of money and drugs at the intersection prompts other crimes. Young men, many of them recent illegal aliens, according to police, pick pockets and snatch purses. Prostitutes, male and female, search out customers to earn a few dollars for drugs.

Peter Tereschuck, vice president for transportation with the Metropolitan Transit Development Board, said the 12th Avenue stop presents the biggest security problem for the agency.

“We’re very concerned about the criminal activity that occurs in that area, as it may adversely affect our ridership,” he said. “We maintain a high profile with extra security at that station, and have worked closely with the police narcotics teams. . . . This is the area that causes us more concern.”

As is often the case in areas where drug dealing occurs, fights, muggings, stabbings and strong-arm robberies are common.

On a recent afternoon, a man peddled a bag of groceries for $2 to obtain drug money.

Panhandling is also a problem, said Filley, a member of a police team organized to clean up the area. Some panhandlers have been known to assault people who refuse them money.

“Confrontations are numerous and, unfortunately, ongoing. It’s a very difficult area to police,” Filley said. “We recently had a rash of assaults in that area.”

Although police “can’t be at that corner all day,” he said, officers make swift and unpredictable sweeps of the area. On a recent afternoon, two squad cars descended on a pickup with Colorado license plates that had pulled into the Qwik Korner lot. They arrested two startled sailors who had just purchased marijuana from a dealer.

The dealer attempted to walk away nonchalantly, but was arrested by two officers waiting around the corner.

“These guys used to be sailors. After we forward our report to the Navy, they might not be allowed to stay in the service,” one officer said. “They’re both career men, and they probably just threw their careers away.”

Mel Gavin, manager of the Qwik Korner, said he tries his best to stop drug dealers and their customers from loitering in front of the market.

“I don’t like it. They come into the store and shoplift. Several times a week I’ve got to sweep up the hypodermic needles they leave around the store and dump them,” he said. “About a month ago, we had a knife and club fight in front of the store. People are afraid to come into the area.”

Filley said police have talked with Gavin and employees of the various fast-food restaurants in the area to make them aware of the rights and responsibilities they have as business owners in a high-crime area.

“They become, to a degree, a party to crimes that occur by allowing people to hang out on their property. . . . We’ve told them about their right to refuse service. . . . It’s their responsibility to make sure that people who loiter on their lots don’t,” Filley said.

Gavin is one of several business people who have urged police to patrol the area aggressively.

At the nearby Imperial Bank office building, security personnel complain frequently to police about drug dealing near the building and about junkies who wander into an ungated drive-through area at night to shoot up.

Meanwhile, inside the Qwik Korner, a young man was thumbing through the Employment Weekly, which lists available jobs. It was already Friday, and a stack of copies still occupied the rack, apparently untouched.

“No, man, I’m not looking for a job. Already got one,” he said. “Set my own hours and work when I want. I’m waiting for my man. He’s heard I got some good (heroin), and he needs the stuff three times a day. . . . It’s a job, man. It’s a job. If I don’t do it, someone else will.”