Police Officials Say Beat Patrols Aid Drug Fight

Police chiefs attending a national drug policy conference said Monday they increasingly are trying “cop on the beat” patrols to curtail street drug sales--in contrast to Los Angeles, where police officials have been cool to this approach.

Chiefs representing New York, Tampa and Mobile, Ala., said in interviews and group meetings that the foot patrols are providing better intelligence about narcotics sales.

An official of the Kansas City, Mo., police said that a telephone hot line reserved for drug information, combined with more direct contacts between neighborhoods and policemen, has resulted in the elimination of dozens of crack cocaine houses.

“If you give the community a means to help you, they will do it,” Maj. Dennis R. Shreve of the Kansas City police told a workshop.

“Our officers are making their presence felt more,” added Harold L. Johnson, Mobile police chief. “We’re getting good narcotics intelligence by approaching people and saying, in effect, ‘Hello, how are you? Where’s the dope dealer?’ ”

Their remarks were made at the Second National Conference on State and Local Drug Policy, sponsored by national drug policy director Bob Martinez. Several hundred law enforcement officials and narcotics experts attended.

In Los Angeles, police officials have resisted pressure from some neighborhood groups to use more foot patrols, citing budget restrictions.

“We don’t argue with the desirability or the effectiveness of it,” police spokesman Fred Nixon said, “but it’s not economically feasible to do it to the extent we’d love to do it, or our citizens would love to see it done.”

Lee P. Brown, New York City police commissioner, said the number of uniformed officers assigned to the street has risen 50%.

“Each block is being assigned to an individual or a group of individuals,” Brown said. “We’re doing this in the spirit of service, and our on-the-beat officers are getting real job satisfaction.”

Brown added: “If you tap the untapped resources of the people, this (neighborhood-based) approach is applicable to any police organization in America.”

Robert L. Smith, public safety director of Tampa, said his police department is in the second year of a so-far-successful experiment with QUAD squads, an acronym for Quick Uniform Attack on Drugs.

At a cost of $6.5 million, Tampa police have added 101 officers and 39 support personnel, including 41 officers who investigate street-level drug sales, Smith said.