The City of Roanoke, Va. has a new way with dealing with the problem of drug dealing, drug violence and as a consequence gang activity in the community. It is called the Drug Market Initiative or DMI.
The Drug Market Initiative, DMI, came out of High Point, N.C. Over the first 4 years of DMI, High Point saw a 57% decrease in crime in the first DMI neighborhood. High Point now has a total of 5 DMI neighborhoods. Each of these 5 neighborhoods all shows the same results.
Some research shows that the average street dealer sells drugs 200-300 times between arrests. Some research says that number is closer to 15,000 drug deals between arrests. DMI addresses this problem.
How does DMI work? In a nutshell DMI works as follows. 1) Police investigate a neighborhood based upon the crime data. 2) Drug dealers are identified and called to a meeting with police, prosecutors, members of the community and others. There will be no arrests at this meeting. 3) At this meeting, dealers are then given a choice, DMI or prosecution. 4) DMI helps "former dealers" get their lives straight. 5) "Former dealers" become productive citizens through DMI. 6) The neighborhood where those drug dealers used to operate becomes quiet and stays quite through community policing.
Some drug dealers will qualify for the DMI, some will not. Those who qualify for DMI MUST stay out of trouble or risk prosecution.
In DMI the Roanoke Police Department will notify drug dealers of a meeting. Again, no arrests will take place at this meeting. At this meeting the charges against the drug dealer and jail time the drug dealer faces will be discussed. The dealer will then be given a choice, prosecution or entering the DMI to become a productive citizen.
DMI is strictly data driven. The data tells DMI which community or neighborhood to go to based strictly upon crime statistics. A community or neighborhood is not selected for DMI because of race, socioeconomics, political pressure or other factors.
The Drug Market Initiative, DMI, looks at the problems of drug dealing and drug violence in a neighborhood from the point of view of empowering a neighborhood to address these problems themselves with the help of law enforcement in an equal partnership.
People want to live in and enjoy my home without having to deal with gangs, drug dealing and drug violence messing up my quality of life. That's why I support DMI. DMI addresses these issues. Also, the revolving door of "drug dealing - jail - return to the community as a convicted felon," doesn't work for everyone. There needs to be a better way of sending a clear message that criminality will not be tolerated nor accepted while giving a deserving person a second chance. DMI provides that way.
The only way a neighborhood or community is going to rid itself of drug dealing, drug violence and the resulting consequence of gangs is to say, “Enough is enough. I'm calling the police when I see illegal activity in my neighborhood.” That doesn't make you a snitch. It makes you a good citizen.
Do you have to give your name when you call the police? No. It would help in the investigation if you gave your name. However, the Roanoke Police Dept. understands why law abiding citizens would want to make their 911 calls anonymously.
Will the charges against someone in the Drug Market Initiative ever be dropped? No. There is no statute of limitations for felonies. However, if that person stays out of trouble, they won't have to be concerned about those charges due to DMI. The goal of DMI is to make a former criminal a productive citizen.
If you have any questions about DMI please fill out the following form and I will get back to you. Please include your e-mail address so I can get back to you. On the form, please feel free to provide only the information you feel comfortable giving to me.