At Least 5 Recent Deaths At Apartment Complexes Linked to Drug Activity, Police Say
By Holly Yan, The Dallas Morning News
About 100 Dallas police officers will descend this morning on a crime-ridden set of apartment complexes in northeast Dallas where drug activity might have played a role in several recent killings.
At least five people have been killed and five others injured in shootings over the last two months at the Autumn Ridge, Providence Apartment and Bent Creek complexes.
Dallas police Deputy Chief David Brown, who supervises the Northeast Patrol Division, described today’s operation as “order maintenance.” He said the emphasis would focus on more than simply making drug arrests, but also on helping law-abiding residents improve their surroundings.
“We’ll be talking to citizens, following up on crimes and creating a dialogue about crime watch participation,” Chief Brown said.
He said police would also serve a number of arrest warrants, but he declined to publicly specify how many or what type.
For the last week, undercover narcotics agents have been making deals in and near the apartment complexes. On the first day of the undercover sting, 11 arrests were made.
Police believe eradicating drug activity – and keeping it out – is the most critical step in cutting down on all violent crimes in these apartments.
“We have to become intolerant to open-air drug sales in multifamily complexes,” Chief Brown said. “That’s the biggest problem: drug sales, and the violence that goes along with it.”
Residents at the Autumn Ridge and Providence Apartment complexes said they are bewildered by what has happened to their communities recently.
“It was quiet here until the past six months,” said Calista Mutasa, who has lived at Providence for two years.
Mrs. Mutasa said she suspects some of the young men who mill about her complex are drug dealers or gang members.
“I’m very worried about my children,” said Mrs. Mutasa, a mother of two who no longer goes out alone late at night.
That fear helped inspire this operation, designed to help residents “take back” their communities and be more self-sufficient in preventing crime.
Over the next month, as many as 75 officers will be stationed at the apartment complexes 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Police hope that after those 30 days, residents will have established crime-watch groups in each of the complexes, with the help of existing crime-watch groups from single-family neighborhoods.
But ultimately, it’s up to tenants to help police fight crime.
“When a drug comes into the complex, we want them to call us,” Chief Brown said. “We don’t want to wait until there’s a murder. We want you to call when someone moves in next door looking suspicious that you think might think about selling drugs.
“We’re not leaving until the last drug dealer is gone. That’s our goal.”