Neighborhood drug dealer - what to do?

[Mooseman]

The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Make some noise, to anyone who will listen. Call PD everytime you you see suspicious activity. Call and write all politicians who represent you. If the criminals are renters, notify their landlords. If the place gets raided, PD is not responisble for damages that occur during the raid. This comes out of the landlords pocket. Write letters to the editor of your local papers. Call the local TV and news radio stations. Make so much noise the PD will want to shut you up and do something about the problem. Be persistant. This will take time, but it will get taken care of if you make enough noise.

[BamaBob]

If you are going to make a lot of noise and get a lot of attention, just make sure you have your insurance up to date:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...ion/?page=full

It is sad, but reality sometimes sucks in our little utopia of Baltimore.

[Mooseman]

Cumberland, while no Baltimore, isn't the quite little Mayberry that it used to be. I just will not be intimadated by anyone. I will not live in fear of going outside.

[MikeTF]

Originally Posted by teratos

I haven't had good experiences with contacting the police regarding people I know are selling drugs. I had a guy I was seeing for "pain management". He was on high doses of oxycodone. He had all the right records, notes from his previous physician, MRIs etc. Come to find out, he is getting the same amount AND MORE from no less than 4 other prescribers in the area. If you add up what he was getting, the street value was $15,000 a month. It also turns out his documentation was fake. Very well done. I found other people in our practice with the same fake documentation. They were also going to multiple prescribers. This appeared to me to be a very well organized drug ring. Before I "fired" the guy I did a tox screen on him in the office....negative for everything. So he was a seller, not a user. I got all of the documents together, had the other prescribers names and numbers it seemed open and shut. Called the police and got basically a "what do you want us to do about it?" response. So, I'm handing you the names, addresses, copies of driver's licenses, and evidence of a drug ring pouring thousands of pills onto the streets each month, and you can't figure out what to do? I called several times, nobody came out to even take a statement. I gave up. I think that is sad. Of course, it convinced me to stay away from chronic pain patients.

Wow! You practically handed them a gift, a no brainer. It sounds like the system is overwhelmed, or unaccountable. What a shame.

[garber38]

Grew up in the city during a difficult time in the 60-70's. People were mean, but controllable. There was civility between people even though race was a major issue. The drug wars once underground were revived with the welfare system. It used to be some people and now it is too many people. Read this whole story and see if this changes any opinions. Life is tough and your fight is with the system. Do your best to understand why people live the way they do. I am blessed and so pass on your values/successes.

http://www.blackpressusa.com/news/Ar...ws&NewsID=2632

[Squad40]

Originally Posted by molonlabe

So having been is EMS for 30 years in California and Wisconsin do you mean to tell me gunshots are not reportable to law enforcement in this state by the first responders? What about scene safety? Do they just charge in BP cuffs and stethoscopes blazing?? I know the ED has to since I work in a hospital.

Curious minds want to know.

I've never reported one. Mainly because police are duel dispatched on shootings and the hospitals report them. If the call came in as something else and turned out to be a shooting, police would usually be requested.

The story does sound fishy though.

Not sure if anyone's mentioned it, but perhaps try a local DEA office if the sales are Rxs.

[Jasonshooter]

Vigilante ?

[exhumed]

You could move to where I live,I have cows across from me,they never use drugs,shoot anyone or give me any problems.They just look at me and mooooow...

[teratos]

Originally Posted by clandestine

What about the DEA. My wifes office had regular visits from them (pain management). Perhaps they would like to get some.

I think I lost the pile of evidence I had neatly laid out. I remember the names of the people. I'll see if I can recreate it. I may give them a call.

Originally Posted by fivepointstar

I'm hoping one of the City Brothers can help
Each District has drug unit....call them and give them a drug tip

Maybe we have to go that route. One would think if you call the police in relation to people selling large amounts of Rx pills it would be a no-brainer to transfer you to their drug unit. I have the utmost respect for police officers, but was very disappointed with my interaction in this situation.

[Blalock]

Be smart and be careful about how you go about this. Please don't call and say things like you see a gun when you really don't. Most people don't understand how dangerous emergency responses are for the police and the public. Google the Dawson Family Baltimore for some light reading.

[lovefreedom82]

I agree that get in contact with your local council and try to keep a log of what's going on. It is shame what people can get away with.

[tony b]

Originally Posted by Jasonshooter

Vigilante ?

it's all fun and games until the fat kid gets hurt

[Nelben]

In addition to police, call 311 and report anything you can think of. Trash, homeless people, tall grass, etc. Baltimore loves to ticket people. Also try to get neighbors involved get as many people calling about as many things as possible at this place. Make them feel unwelcome. Also, check the MD property search http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/rp_rewrite/ to see if it is a rental. If it is you can get the owners address and pester them too.

[OldSchool1959]

Originally Posted by Nelben

In addition to police, call 311 and report anything you can think of. Trash, homeless people, tall grass, etc. Baltimore loves to ticket people. Also try to get neighbors involved get as many people calling about as many things as possible at this place. Make them feel unwelcome. Also, check the MD property search http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/rp_rewrite/ to see if it is a rental. If it is you can get the owners address and pester them too.

Adding to the good suggestions already made...
I had a similar problem very recently. I learned the name of the person engaged in similar "commerce". I searched the public website at Maryland Judiciary for the person's name. Bingo - the subject had a number of prior brushes with the law that related to the possession of CDS. Called the county police narcotics bureau and gave very detailed information describing the frequency of visitors etc. Asked if I should call a federal agency such as the DEA since I didn't know if there were large quantities involved. The county folks said they would take it under advisement. Not sure what happened but "vending" operations have ceased and dude is gone. Guessing that the heat got to be more than he liked or maybe he had a warrant. Had that not worked, I was prepared to put video of the parade of weed heads into the hands of the police.

[Nelben]

Great suggestion about Md Judiciary. Not great for privacy, but certainly can be useful.

[JMangle]

Any change in status?

Really sucks that society is going downhill like this.

[Dead Eye]

Having gone through a similar situation, I was successful in getting rid of three (3) such scumbags because they rented. Find out whether the guy rents or owns, if he rents, go to here and find the actual property owner: http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/rp_rewrite/ Get their name and address, and write them a personal letter identifying them as the property owner of record, and yourself as an eye witness to drug activity at that location. Let them know clearly, that your plan is to take the information to the police, and you further intend on bearing witness in a court of law. Also, whether true or not, throw in a hint that their property might be taken away from them, since this letter is serving as notice of said illegal drug activity, thus allowing the authorities to sieze the property in the event of such a drug raid. Like I said, I saw three (3) go down the street, bags in hand, just about the time it took to deliver the letter. In fact, I actually overheard one grousing about the landlord kicking him out. In the meantime, watch your six.

[Southern_Boy]

Teemus gave good advice right up to this point:

Originally Posted by Teemus

...Enhance you listening abilities by purchasing a parabolic listening device (a small dish with a microphone at the focal point). You can get them at spy shops on the internet. Record everything on a digital recorder and make sure that you put a date/time at the start of every recording by saying something like "Today ia January 7th, 2012 and it is 8:36 p.m."...

Unless something has changed, this would be a *FELONY* violation of Md's "wiretapping" law.

Yes, I *KNOW* you didn't tap any wires - we live in Marylandistan, remember?

I was threatened with this charge for recording face-to-face meetings with my ex-wife, even though they saved me from a false charge!

If it's a felony to record YOUR conversation without the consent of all parties, it's DEFINITELY illegal to record conversations you're not even a part of!

And they WILL press charges-just ask Linda Tripp!

[iobidder]

Originally Posted by Southern_Boy

Teemus gave good advice right up to this point:

Unless something has changed, this would be a *FELONY* violation of Md's "wiretapping" law.

Yes, I *KNOW* you didn't tap any wires - we live in Marylandistan, remember?

I was threatened with this charge for recording face-to-face meetings with my ex-wife, even though they saved me from a false charge!

If it's a felony to record YOUR conversation without the consent of all parties, it's DEFINITELY illegal to record conversations you're not even a part of!

And they WILL press charges-just ask Linda Tripp!

It is illegal...period

[bcr229]

Originally Posted by Teemus

Now I'm not defending the Baltimore Keystone Kops here, but allow me to give you a little bit of truth about investigations.

Let's say that I'm a cop on the beat (a grade E-1 if you will) and you report this to me. I'm going to say, "OK, thanks for the information." I'm going to pass it along up the line and that is that. They won't tell me if they are going to make a big thing out of this or not. I'll get the same line that you got. The reason for this is simple. At the upper level of narcotics (maybe even the federal level) they might be doing a major investigation into this guy, his suppliers, his bank accounts, everything. If I (or anyone else in the police department) was to tell you something like "Oh yeah. We know all about this guy. He is the subject of a major investigation and we are going to bring some serious S**t down on him and soon. But keep this to yourself." There is no way they will ever tell you if they are or are not doing anything about this guy. For one thing, they may be in the middle of a serious investigation elsewhere in the area and this guy will be swept up in that investigation when the S**T STORM begins.

Bottom line is, loose lips sink ships.

If you want to do something they do it quitely. Become a wealth of information about the guy. Write down the tag numbers of every car that parks anywhere near his house. Record the date and time that the cars were there. Get a good, low light camera and begin taking photos of EVERYONE who enters and leaves the cars near his house. Document EVERYTHING with times, dates, and take note of EVERYTHING that ANYONE says. Enhance you listening abilities by purchasing a parabolic listening device (a small dish with a microphone at the focal point). You can get them at spy shops on the internet. Record everything on a digital recorder and make sure that you put a date/time at the start of every recording by saying something like "Today ia January 7th, 2012 and it is 8:36 p.m."

Periodcially turn all of this information over to someone in the narcotics team at the police department. But NEVER give up you only copy of it. You may need it later. Develop a relationship with some officer in that department and let them know that you are a consistent RIVER of solid, documented, dated, objective information that they can use in court. Ask the cops what kind of information would be appropriate. If the Keystone Kops don't respond in a positive way to this, then go to the feds. Remember what I said about not giving up your only copy of this information? Well, I know this sounds incredibly impossible but you might run into one of the Keystone Kops who is corrupt and is actually working for the drug dealer. I know, I know, that sounds impossible, but think about the towing scandal that took place last year involving about 30 of the Keystone Kops. This leads me to my final warning.

You must only provide this information as anonymously as possible to low level cops. Let them know that you are providing it to federal authorities at the same time as they are getting it. This will prevent any bought-off cops from offing you to prevent any further investigations. Move cautiously! Trust NO ONE! If you want to enter this fight, do it all the way and know that the road ahead is fraught with danger from all sides.

Good luck and God bless.

This is good advice and exactly what we did to get rid of a drug dealer in my neighborhood about 10 years ago when we lived in northern VA - except in my case it was a townhouse community and I shared a wall with them. It's a real PITA when their already-intoxicated customers are banging on your door at 2 a.m. instead of the one next door because they want to make a purchase.

Video surveillance of the property, especially showing license plates, faces, etc. is a must. IIRC it took just over six months for the bust to happen once we started providing evidence.

Oh, and our HOA was worthless. Lots of hand-wringing and "OMG if we try to do anything and they find out, they might shoot us!" comments. Cowards.