‘By the way, thank you’ Residents grateful as city restores order to Redbird neighborhood

By TONY BROWN FAIRE
The Dallas Examiner

A swarm of police cars filled the Surrey Row Apartment complex two weeks ago. Dallas police officers went door-to-door, serving warrants and making arrests. An apparent gang had become squatters, having planted themselves inside several vacant apartments within the complex.

Alleged gang members and other criminal elements located within the complex were receiving a police escort to the Dallas’ police department, as tenants looked on. Upon the completion of his duties, one officer, who also provides security for a nearby retailer, was greeted by two residents of the complex.

“Hello,” he responded, returning his attention immediately to his duties.

“Wait a minute,” the woman replied. “We asked you how you were doing, that means you have to respond. A smile covered the officer’s face as he replied that he was doing fine.

As both resident and tenant prepared to go their separate ways, the tenant added, “And by the way, thanks.”

Dallas City Councilman Tennell Adkins is serving notice to the drug dealers and gangs who have all but taken over a small portion of District 8 in the Redbird area of Oak Cliff. For years, the area, bounded by Camp Wisdom Road, Bainbridge Avenue, Cliff Creek Crossing Drive, Kirnwood Drive and Chaucer Place had become a hotbed of drugs and violence. And the convenience store on the corner of Camp Wisdom and Chaucer Place had become a central spot for loiterers, apparent drug dealers and addicts who swarmed the parking lot.

Then things began to change. Dallas Police officers became a regular fixture in the Redbird community. The corner convenient store, once littered with what appeared to some to be drug activity, now a frequent site for drug busts. The heavy police presence followed into the apartment complex where warrants were served and arrests were made, almost on a daily bases.

“Getting rid of crime was the number one priority when I got on city council. I had to fight with city government and the police to get more officers into the district,” said Adkins.

The convenience store, located on the corner in a strip mall called Chaucer Place, became a focal point. The store is open 24 hours a day. Adkins said the owner of the store could also ask for more help in clearing out the loiterers. Unfortunately, once inside the store you can see items such as pocket scales being sold. Although it is not illegal to sale pocket scales in Dallas, such items are likely to attract a certain type of clientele to the store.

Adkins also said the Dallas Police Department is more than willing to help businesses and apartment complexes with their security systems as well.

The cleanup couldn’t have come at a better time. Some business owners at Chaucer Place are not happy about the current condition of their community and they are ready for action.

“I think something needs to be done about the youngsters,” said Mike Lowe, or Big Mike, a barber stated. Lowe has been working at The Total Image Barber Shop for over six years and claims that his clientele has declined because of the violence and crime in the area.

Adkins understands the concerns of business owners and residents in the community and is working to clean up the area. On the corner is a security camera that the City of Dallas has installed. Adkins said he had to fight to get the funding for that camera. However, even with the camera crime continues.

A worker at the barber shop, who preferred to be known only as Ms. Jackie isn’t convinced the city is doing all it can. “If they are watching the cameras, shouldn’t they be making more arrest? We are fed up.,” she said.

Lowe agrees. “I do not feel safe here. They should come out at night if they want to catch criminals” he said. When asked how he felt about the police, Lowe stated, “I’d rather have a pistol than the police.”

However, Attorney Mitzi Willis, the Community Prosecutor for Dist. 8 stated, “The police work very hard to get solid arrests and I work hard with them.” The problem that District 8 faced when Adkins became a city councilman was that there was not a community Prosecutor assigned to the district, she explains. Adkins was very instrumental in making this happen.

According to the City of Dallas, “The Dallas Community Prosecution Team uses Strategic Code Enforcement and creative strategies to address the most complex issues facing neighborhoods across the City of Dallas. The CP Team serves fourteen target areas with seventeen attorneys and partners with seven certified code officers. Community Prosecution manages and operates two community courts and a program specifically designed for offenders re-entering neighborhoods in the City of Dallas. The CP Team focuses resources on three main priorities: the first being to improve the Community’s Quality of Life using Criminal and Civil Legal Strategies, the second to increase the Public Safety through specialized initiatives and strategic code enforcement and the third to empower Communities and Strengthen Neighborhoods through ACTION Teams and engaging the Community in problem solving and strategic planning”

In short, a community prosecutor is housed in a specific neighborhood and is dedicated to the improving the quality of life of the community they are specifically commissioned to serve. Addressing crime, code and other issues threatening that specific community becomes that prosecutor’s first priority. Otherwise, the community must vie for attention, competing with the entire city to have its legal needs addressed in court.

Willis said, “Councilman Adkins’ first priority was to get a Community Prosecutor. He demanded it.”

Willis grew up in South Dallas and is a long time Dallas resident. When asked how she felt about her job, she replied, “It is both rewarding and at times, ‘wow.’ I cannot believe it has gotten this far.” Willis feels it is critical that the city and community find a way to get the younger generation involved in the community.

Adkins has also worked aggressively to increase the attention the District receives from the Dallas Police Department. They now have police walking the streets, as well as on bikes and horses in the southern sector of Dallas. He said it took a year and a half to get this type of police visibility in District 8. Chief Cheryl Scott, who was recently assigned to the Chaucer Place and Camp Wisdom area, has not responded for the request of an interview.

Adkins sat down with the apartment owners and they are now allowing the Police to come in and help with the security of the apartments. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III, senior pastor at Friendship-West Baptist Church, was also very instrumental in helping this to come about. Adkins says that Haynes has been working tirelessly in the community for many years. The citizens are now seeing more patrols in the apartment communities.

When asked about the patrols, residents were fearful to go on record, but each stated they are happy to see it, often adding, “It is about time.”

Councilman Adkins said a teenager was beaten for $20 when he came out of the corner convenience store after buying a soda. “This is why we have police in the parking lots and on the street,” he said, adding it is also up to the citizens to report crime. “It is a community effort and we must all work together to keep our community safe,” Adkins says. “As long as I am councilman, I am going to work to keep my community safe.”

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Tony Brown Faire