By:Jeff Lipton
With the arrest last week of a mid-level drug-dealing suspect in North Lawrence, police are stepping up their battle against the sale and possession of narcotics in the Five Towns.
Undercover officers from the Nassau County Narcotics Bureau swooped down on Darrel Jones, 29, of Redfern Avenue in Far Rockaway and arrested him at 7:20 p.m. Wednesday, July 11 in a small shopping center on Rockaway Turnpike and Burnside Avenue, authorities said. He was charged with selling cocaine to a confidential informant at 7:20 p.m. May 4 and at 3:35 p.m. May 8, police said. He is accused of peddling .058 ounces of cocaine each time, in exchange for a combined $650. Both deals also took place in the shopping center, officials said.
Jones was arrested and charged with two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.
Officials said the shopping center is not known as a drug hot spot. Jones has a prior record for possession of stolen property, police said.
He was being held on $30,000 bond or $10,000 cash bail, according to the Nassau County District Attorney's Office.
The Narcotics Bureau, Fourth Precinct anti-crime patrol and officers from the Bureau of Special Operations have worked cooperatively in a three-pronged attack on drugs in the Five Towns. Uniformed officers, as well as undercover agents, have shared information and moved on tips from the neighborhood in a wide-ranging effort to purge the Five Towns of drug activity.
"We might get information and stake out an area," said Sgt. Richard Hayes of the Narcotics Bureau. "He [Jones] apparently was selling for several months. He could have been selling for years prior to us getting involved."
Recent statistics indicate that police may be winning some of the battles they are waging in their war on drugs. From Jan. 1-July 13, 2001, police have received in the Five Towns and Atlantic Beach 24 reports of possession of illegal narcotics such as cocaine and crack, and have made 28 arrests. For all of 2000, police carried out 15 arrests after receiving 15 reports of drug possession. In drug sales so far this year, police have received three reports and arrested three suspects. Last year, police made 13 arrests on 11 reports.
The low number of arrests for drug sales in 2001 is a strong indicator that word is getting to drug pushers that police are not tolerating the illegal use of any drugs and dealers are being locked up or may be setting up shop in other communities, law enforcement sources said.
The need for cash to feed a drug habit often leads to other crimes, such as robbery or burglary, categories in which the Five Towns are showing tremendous declines. The Five Towns and Atlantic Beach have seen 22 burglaries through the first six and a half months of 2001, as compared with 75 for all of last year. There have been reports of five robberies so far this year after 23 for all of last year.
Police are also cracking down on the use of marijuana, making 26 arrests on 17 reports through July 13 of this year, as compared with 21 arrests on 13 reports for all of last year, according to statistics provided by the Fourth Precinct.
"There is a certain degree of drug activity in virtually any community," said Insp. George Gudmundsen, Fourth Precinct commander. "I don't see a big problem here, but any amount of activity is too much. We do get reports of drug sales on the street and we do respond to them.
"There's ongoing undercover investigations and we actively patrol these streets with an eye to making arrests.
"I'm very happy and satisfied with the work of our anti-crime officers," the inspector said. "We want to keep after them and be vigilant. We can never rest on our laurels."
