Post and Courier
CHARLESTON, S.C. — John Lites strode through the gritty streets of Charleston’s East Side, flashing smiles, shouting greetings, shaking hands. He inquired about a man’s gardening plans, scooped up stray litter from sidewalks and chatted with a little boy about oiling his rusty bike chain.
If one looked past his blue uniform and the sergeant’s stripes on his sleeves, Lites seemed more like a friendly resident on a stroll than a chief enforcer of the law in these parts. And that’s just the way he likes it.
Sgt. John Lites talks with Sara Mack and her husband, Arnold, at their home on Hanover Street. Lites is part of the Charleston Police Department’s new Community Action Teams.
Lites is part of a new community policing program that embeds officers in some of the city’s most troubled neighborhoods to work with residents on fighting crime and improving the quality of life. As part of a $3 million federal grant initiative, Charleston police are placing 15 officers in Community Action Teams that will work on the East Side and in several struggling neighborhoods in West Ashley.
Lites and his West Ashley counterpart, Sgt. Jill Hawley, see themselves more as liaisons to the communities they serve than the strong arm of the law. If they can resolve a problem without an arrest or by steering a wayward kid back onto the right path, that’s fine by them. Like everyone else involved in the effort, they volunteered to join the teams, seeing it as a chance to make a lasting difference in the lives of those they serve, they said.
“I really care about what’s going on in the community, and there are a lot of vibrant people there who care about what’s going on,” Lites said. “We want to work with them to create a place where they can feel safe and enjoy their lives.”
The East Side long has struggled with shootings and other street violence, sparked by rivalries and an open-air drug trade that attracts outsiders looking for crack cocaine, heroin and other narcotics. Violence, drugs and other crime also have plagued the suburban West Ashley neighborhoods involved: Ashleyville, Maryville, Ardmore, Georgetown Apartments and Orleans Gardens, police said.
While busting drug dealers likely will be part of the solution, officers also are looking to bring code enforcement and other city resources to bear to spruce up neighborhoods and connect residents with needed services. Whether on foot, on bicycles or riding Segways, the officers will be there on a daily basis, giving citizens familiar faces they can turn to for help or to share tips on crime, Police Chief Greg Mullen said.
“It’s not so much about police issues as having the ability to develop those relationships and learn what these people need to improve their communities and connect them to those resources,” he said. “That is a huge part of building strong, resilient communities.”
In Ashleyville, an old neighborhood tucked off S.C. Highway 61, Hawley and Officer Gary Deeg are talking with property owners about fixing up vacant, dilapidated houses and ridding yards of debris and junk cars. They’re also trying to curtail people loitering and drinking in an empty lot at a neighborhood entrance.
They’ve brought in city officials to speak at neighborhood meetings, and they’re walking the streets to hear concerns. In the process, they’re building trust and gaining valuable insight into the goings-on there, Hawley said. The key, she said, is consistency and persistency.
“You don’t always have to be hard to get the job done,” she said. “I think you get more out of people when you treat them with dignity and respect.”
Leonard Higgins, a neighborhood leader who has lived in Ashleyville for 77 years, said some people don’t like the extra attention from police, but he thinks the new team is making a positive difference. He’s seen fewer outsiders and less drug activity since they arrived a month ago. “Just their presence is making a difference.”
Lites has been on the new beat the longest, leaving his detective’s position three months ago to return to the East Side. He chats up everyone from civic leaders to ex-cons. Recently, one of those contacts pointed him to the location of a drug dealer’s stash, which led to an arrest and the seizure of some crack cocaine, police said.
Such developments are drawing notice from residents in the area. Nassau Street resident Arnold Mack, for example, said drug dealers seem scarce with Lites around.
Harold Brown of East Side Community Development Corp. agreed. “You’ve got them on the run,” he told Lites.
Lites said he recognizes that some young people have had tough upbringings and don’t see many options beyond the street corner. He tries to treat them with respect and, when possible, show them a better way. On a recent afternoon, he told a group of young men he’d have to arrest them for trespassing if they kept loitering near the corner of Line and Nassau streets, a hot spot for drugs and shootings in recent years. He hoped that by being polite and giving them fair warning, they’d show him the respect of complying.
Lites was almost afraid to look as he approached the area the next day, not wanting to be proved wrong. He glanced around the corner. The street corner was empty. Not a drug slinger in sight. Lites pumped his fist and smiled. “Yes!”
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