Pardon me sir, but is that indeed a diminutive bag of crack?

July 5, 2007 7:37 PM

I live in New York City. Drugs are being brought and sold on my block. What do I do?

Further details: I’m a single woman in my 30s and I live in midtown Manhattan. My block is a mixed industrial and residential and is rather desolate at night. Two apartment buildings (mine included) are subsidized housing for middle and low income tenants. (Note: this is not public housing, but rather one of the various New York City programs for people - teachers, immigrants, public service workers, etc - who make roughly between 20 and 80 thousand a year.) The other two buildings on the block are luxury rentals.

To get to and from my home, I have to walk in front of the other subsidized building. Once, someone in that building shot at me with a BB gun from a dark window. I was not hit and I called 911 to no effect. More recently, someone threw balloons (so I surmise, I didn’t see it before them hit the fence behind me) filled with white liquid at me. Since these two incidents, I have begun walking on the sidewalk on that building’s side of the street, instead of the sidewalk across the street.

…Which has cut down on the throwing stuff at me, but has me now walking through a group of young men and teenagers who are openly buying and selling drugs. They’re there 2 to 4 nights a week. I keep my eyes to myself; walking confidently but not lingering or drawing attention to myself. I’ve lived here long enough that I recognize most of these people; some are residents and some visit in large, recognizable SUVs.

So, what to do? Do I call the cops? Should I be anonymous if I do so? Visit my precinct? Nothing?

The streets to my north and south are completely deserted and I feel far less safe walking on them at night. I also can’t afford to take a cab more than once or twice a month. But I don’t like this. Any thoughts and advice are appreciated.

(Moving is not an option, nor do I want to carry a gun.)

Thanks, everyone. Throwaway address for questions – [e-mail]

posted by anonymous to Law & Government (22 answers total)

Call the local community police and submit an anonymous tip.

Keep records. If you can see what is going on outside of your window, try to write down patterns of when they are there and how many guys are there, how many people come up to them, etc.

Unfortunately the small-ness of their dealing compared to the "big guys" means that there might be little that you can do.

All of this advice is based on someone else's experience in Burlington, Vermont. The only reason the problem was taken care of was because the dealers were found to be traveling across state and federal borders.
posted by k8t at 7:43 PM on July 5, 2007

First, so sorry you have to go through this.

Second, k8t had a lot of good points. I would add the following:

* Your safety is of course your #1 concern. I would call 311 (NYC info) and ask the operator to help find the appropriate person/agency to discuss this with. (For those reading who are not locals, 311 is a local number you can use to find out just about anything related to NYC, including tourism questions. Bloomberg instituted it before the Republican convention a few years ago. It is great.) Make sure they understand the subsidy situation; it could alter jurisdiction/agency interest. I would not call from your home or cell. I am a bit cautious, though.

* If you feel that your issue was not taken seriously, call the Mayor's office, or the Manhattan Borough President's office (Scott Stringer is the BP.)

* k8t is correct: get as much info as you can. License plate numbers, color, make & model of cars, date & times, photos would be great, but I don't know if that's viable from a safety standpoint.

* If it is subsidized housing, there is a government interest in keeping the building and the neighborhood safe. Can you find out which agency is subsidising it and solicit their help?

* Don't your neighbors have the same problem? Can you talk with them?

*When someone shot at you, did 911 really not send a cop? That's an issue for the mayor's office.

* Again, if there are tenants living in subsidized housing, I have to believe that any legal infractions (like, say, dealing drugs) would be cause for them to get evicted. You have leverage here, but there needs to be a way they don't know you have complained.

* Call the local TV news (New York 1), 1010 WINS, or CBS's Eye On You (or something like that.) Most TV & radio stations have those investigative reporters who like to help residents with issues. If it gets reported, the cops hate bad PR, and will take action to avoid bad press.

* Do something to protect yourself. Self-defense courses seem like a good idea. I think there might be some ads in Time Out NY's classified section.

* Is there a friend (sorry, but male is probably a good idea) who could walk you home once in a while?

* Is a tenants assoc. or neighborhood watch a possibility. I started a tenants' assoc. a few years ago. Was fun and helpful.

* The luxury buildings landlords probably aren't too thrilled with drugs being sold on their block. Call them.

Wish I could think of something else.
Best of luck!
posted by davidinmanhattan at 8:28 PM on July 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

If illegal activity is that brazen, you might want to be consider being a wee bit more anonymous when you're complaining (911 and 311 operators are able to see your caller ID).

Your story suggests that the local cops are aware of the situation and may be turning a blind eye (or worse). Do you seriously think that you're the only one who notices the problem? You don't want to make yourself (more of) a target.

I agree that you should consider the local news. Make sure they conceal your identity if you get interviewed. If you can videotape something for the news stations, without being seen, you've done most of the work for them already.

Good luck and re-consider moving, please.
posted by who squared at 9:17 PM on July 5, 2007

You are in a drug area. Informing on individual dealers will not make it into a non drug area, as others will move into the vacuum if they get busted. Getting a neighborhood watch program together, and/or getting enough people to complain to the police to the point where they station a patrol car there almost every night might clean things up. However, unless you are both determined and outraged, you probably won't have the will to follow through in the face of adversity and threats. This is not a slam on you, but few people are crusaders. I personally lived in a neighborhood that had drugs, stabbings, and prostitution, and did nothing about it. Luckily the police had decided to clean it up.

I advise whatever you do, you carry pepper spray. If you have to use it on someone, you probably need to move.
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:44 PM on July 5, 2007

It's unlikely you could get a NYC concealed carry permit, even if you tried. I'd like to believe in the organizational power of a neighborhood association, or crime prevention watch. But this being, as you describe it, a midtown Manhattan location, I think the best advice is that you move.
posted by paulsc at 10:18 PM on July 5, 2007

Um, this is the same as my neighborhood, and I've never had a problem personally. I seem to have an excessive sense of personal safety and actually find the occasional neighborhood shouting match kinda entertaining. ("No HE took the phone.")

From posting a similar question, I can tell you you'll probably get a lot of "OMFG move NOW" responses, and if you personally feel unsafe, it might be worth it. Every neighborhood is different, but in mine, the dealers on the corner are not that bad. They're mostly just quiet. One got annoying but just in a "hey baby" way that stopped when I stopped greeting them. This other group of guys two blocks up, who are always stoned and I'm pretty sure also dealing, are mellow and friendly just in a neighborly way.

I generally don't make personal eye contact with anyone and am walking pretty fast, and walk around the clusters of guys by going out into the street. Or if they've already made room for me to pass through on the sidewalk, I walk through. I'm often reading as I walk, look up as I pass, then go back to my book. I give a generic "hey, how you all doing?" monotone, smile and nod my head, but without actually looking at any one person or breaking stride for a response. That's my approach, and just trust your instincts. Oh, and don't open up a competing franchise on the opposite corner -- they hate that. ;)

The ones I'd actually watch out for are the users. I mean, if someone can keep their act together enough to be a dealer they're not nearly as desperate and crazy as someone who's broke and needs their next fix. (Do you know what they're dealing, btw?) The dealers just want business as usual. If something bad happens to you, it brings the cops down on the open air market of these young entrepreneurs.

P.S. Who's throwing stuff at you? Are they actually trying to hurt or intimidate you? Or are they, like, 9 year olds with no supervision who just want attention?
posted by salvia at 10:48 PM on July 5, 2007 [3 favorites]

Moving is not an option, nor do I want to carry a gun.

Then you should keep your mouth shut and make no effort to bring hindrance or harm to the people in your neighborhood.
posted by bingo at 10:52 PM on July 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

Seconding BortherCaine - you live in a bad situation, but unless your neighborhood reaches some critical opposing mass or you decide to go vigilante at great risk to yourself, you are stuck with the circumstances.

Whatever you do, don't get confrontational with the dealers. You undoubtedly have much more to lose than they do.
posted by foobario at 10:57 PM on July 5, 2007

Yes, people sell drugs on my block also. I have had to interrupt their transactions to get in my building. I walk the dog twice a day, and generally walk around to do my errands, so I am out amongst the people.

But me, I used to buy drugs myself, so I am not so focussed on helping the prison industry as much as on minimizing my own personal inconvenience. So the first couple times I happened upon this, I looked straight in the people's eyes, as if to say that I knew what they were doing, but didn't have a problem with them if they didn't have a problem with me or my kids. They looked right back at me, to let me know that they did not have a problem with me or my kids. Now we are simply neighbors, and remark to each other in passing about the weather, the parking, and my dog.

A couple months ago, I pulled up late one night and some guy came walking up to my car. I'm sitting in the locked car watching him approach and wondering what to do, when another guy came running up out of nowhere, yelling, "where's my money?" The first guy seems to think I am going to let him in my car, and so he's tugging on the passenger door handle when the second guy reaches him. The second guy, one of my friendly neighborhood drug dealers, looks at me, says "sorry about this, baby," grabs the other guy and starts beating him up right there. After a while, my neighbor runs off as suddenly as he had appeared, and I get out and have a look at the guy. He looks OK to me, so I call 911 and go in my building. I saw the dealer a couple days later. He said "how's it going?" I said "how's it going?" and that was that.

It's pretty undesirable to have all this happening where you live, for sure, but my feeling is that, as long as the drug business is not interfering with regular citizens directly (besides, um, scaring the shit out of them) it is not something I want to interfere with. I, like you, am just a single woman in her thirties -- not Coffy.

Unless you want to (a) move, or (b) become Coffy, your only other alternative is (c) make friends. Apparently the local hoodlums think you are their enemy, and that it would be worthwhile to try to intimidate you into moving out. So, maybe as you walk through the drug bazaar, look people in the face in a way that conveys that you are not intimidated, and that you are not necessarily their enemy. Work towards a "how's it going?" relationship, like you'd have with the jitney drivers or people selling pirated DVDs in front of your building. Local color. As I like to say when I'm in a good mood, I love living in the city! Or when I'm not -- ye-e-es, this is the ghetto.
posted by Methylviolet at 12:05 AM on July 6, 2007 [12 favorites]

Then you should keep your mouth shut and make no effort to bring hindrance or harm to the people in your neighborhood.

This is the key to successful urban living: mind your own business.
posted by three blind mice at 2:42 AM on July 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

I dunno. The BB gun and the balloon throwing sounds a bit more like obnoxious kids than drug dealers. Why would a drug dealer call attention to himself in that way?
posted by footnote at 5:04 AM on July 6, 2007

I second footnote. This sounds like the main problem is a bunch of kids.

A crazy idea would be to complain about the kids to the dealers.
posted by nazca at 5:54 AM on July 6, 2007

What salvia and Methylviolet said.

Whatever you do, do NOT follow the advice to start your own investigation, writing down plates, etc.. I'd suggest spitting in their faces before I'd suggest that.

Just focus on the MYOB and stay on the dealer side of the street. As mentioned, they want a quiet street where they can do business as usual.

And nazca's idea isn't so crazy. You might mention that the few times you've walked down the other side of the street, shit has happened that's made you call the cops. I'd be surprised if that didn't put a quick end to the shit.

As outlandish as it may seem, having a group of guys regularly out there on the street at odd hours who want a nice quiet place to do business is probably *safer* than a completely empty block where some crazy might try to have his way with you.
posted by allkindsoftime at 6:48 AM on July 6, 2007

Your frustration with the police response reminds me of this.

The problem with 911 is that it really is for emergencies. Unless a serious crime requiring a police report has been committed or is in progress then calling 911 probably won't help. Calling the local precinct with a general complaint about the drug dealing might work, especially now that the city has taken to targeting quality of life violations like open drug dealing. If you don't get relief take your beef to the precinct captain. I wouldn't worry about your anonymity when merely calling the police. Information about who complained is unlikely to make it to the dealers. All that being said, I do kind of agree with allkindsoftime's last sentence.
posted by caddis at 7:02 AM on July 6, 2007

I would consider the following:

- Document the actual acts of harassment committed against you. Call the police when they happen - if a squad car shows up at your building, this sends a message. A police presence interferes with the drug dealing business, even if your complaint has nothing to do with them. As others have noted, if they are dealing drugs, they don't want some asshole throwing water balloons and shooting bb guns screwing up business. Have the police come up to your apartment rather than meeting them out on the street. If you're afraid to do that, go to your police precinct headquarters and file a report there. As you say, two luxury buildings have gone up on your street. That means people with money who may have kids, and who pay sky-high property taxes and expect police protection commensurate with it. Like it or not, fair or not, that's how it goes.

- Talk to your management company, super, and other members of the building. Tell them what's happening. Do you have adequate lighting on your street and in front of your building? Are there security cameras? Do they own additional buildings? Document every incident and make them aware that you pay your rent like everyone else and you want a safer environment around your building. When I lived alone in Chicago, there was a rash of break-ins and petty theft in my neighborhood. I talked to everyone who lived in my building - at least six of us had either had our apartments broken into or things stolen from the storage room. Many had had items stolen from our mailboxes. Thing was, we each thought they were isolated incidents. Once we started talking to each other, we realized we were all being victimized. Our management company got the message when we all reported the incidents to the police and sent copies of our police reports to the management company, along with a statement saying we were all considering withholding rent until building security improved. Security lights went up in the alleys around our building, motion-activated lights around the front entrances, and additional locks were placed on the front doors. It helped.

- If you can't have a friend or acquaintance walk you to your door, call someone on your cellphone as you walk down your block. Or, pull your phone out and fake a loud, genial conversation (make sure your phone's on vibrate for obvious reasons - wouldn't want to look like an asshole when your mom calls while you're pretending to talk to your 250 pound boyfriend). Keep your eyes and ears open, but make it clear you're not really alone just because you're walking by yourself. Program 911 into your speed dial.

- As for the drug dealers, I agree with MethylViolet - be courteous and steer clear. Don't look for confrontation where there is none. Eye contact, a non-committal "How's it going?" and so forth acquaints you with them. If you're cool with them, they're likely to be cool with you. Just because they're dealing drugs doesn't mean they're looking for the opportunity to harm you. They're trying to make money and getting into it with you is, again, not very good for business.
posted by TryTheTilapia at 7:05 AM on July 6, 2007

I see I'm not alone in my answer, good. So I agree with methylviolet - make friends with the drug dealers. In the early 90s I lived in NYC on a block that was a major, major drive through drug market and I think that I and my then small daughter have never been safer. Look at it this way: dealers do not want police presence and they do not want hassles. The dealers on my block realized quickly that I wasn't going to buy and they left me alone - one time, when one started hassling me to buy another one shoved him and said "Leave her alone, man, she's cool, she lives here." There were always people on the block, nobody bothered me and what the hell? I felt a lot safer than on my previous block, which was totally deserted and scary as hell at night.
posted by mygothlaundry at 9:10 AM on July 6, 2007

Seconding others: I used to live on a similar block. I am also a woman, in my late 20s. At first I was uncomfortable, but as several others have said, over time we recognized each other, and it was fine--the dealers would say hey, I would say hey, sometimes we'd chat about the weather or whatever, and it was fine. Some of them lived in my building and were among my nicest/friendliest neighbors. Don't linger or openly stare, but don't totally avoid eye contact, either. Like allkindsoftime, I too felt more safe with guys out there all the time, who recognized me, than I do on blocks that are totally empty. The people throwing shit at you are far more likely to be kids than the dealers.

When coming home late at night I would usually call someone so I was on the phone while walking down the block; while you need to be careful to pay attention, it's good to have that sort of vague protection, especially if it's of the "hi honey I'll be home in two minutes" type.

The only time we ever called the cops was when a (presumably delinquent) buyer was being beaten up on the sidewalk right under our windows. They were throwing him into the trashcans and we could hear him screaming. We called 911 anonymously; some neighbors also called and actually went down to see how the guy was, but we stayed hidden. Cowardly, maybe, but safer.

Something else to note--the super of my building was also a narcotics cop, and we heard a lot from him. He said the cops know what these guys are doing, but they wait until they need information about something and then they pull them in to get the info they want in exchange for letting them free So, it's quite possible the cops are aware of what's going on but prefer to let them slide until they have need of them. In that case they are quite likely small time dealers.

Or, they could be planning a big bust. I saw one once out my window, it was crazy, there were something like 50 cops on the street on a random afternoon, and half of them were undercover--one was even wearing mom jeans and a high ponytail--definitely an interesting event!
posted by min at 9:37 AM on July 6, 2007

I wouldn't call the police about them. The worst that will happen to the dealers is that the police will bust one or two people who will get held for a few hours and then have to go to court at a later date. Then your situation will be even worse, because they'll be openly hostile towards you. But if you don't bother them, they won't bother you. If you're at all interested in looking at the bigger picture of this situation (aka why these kids are dealing, what happens to them when they try to stop) you might want to read In Search Of Respect. It opened my eyes, might help you be a little bit more tolerant of the hood rats.
posted by blueskiesinside at 10:04 AM on July 6, 2007

I thought of a couple more things that helped me, and the common theme is basically that knowledge reduces fear. One, my landlord has lived here since 1978, so I've heard the worst things that've happened in the last 29 years, and besides one car theft, little has happened to him or other tenants. (They've witnessed bad things, but none with accidental or random victims.) Two, Oakland maps its crime reports online, so I can pull this map up from time to time to see what's going on. Three, my household talks a lot to one another, and my landlord attends a neighborhood watch group led by this area's neighborhood cop. (The cop said they're watching that house, like min said.) So if some wave of crime broke out, I'd hear about it pretty quickly.

You also might check out my similar question. I hate linking to it because a) my question was pretty silly and naive, b) I reported all the bad things I'd been told right upon moving in, so I made the neighborhood sound worse than it really was, and since some of the warnings didn't match my reality at all they were funny to me (e.g., the SUVs that will "pinch" you) and because of this amusement, c) I came off as more cock-sure than I needed to. I was a n00b, what can I say?

But there's a lot of good advice there. Definitely check out crabintheocean's comment (though I have not found women to be worse than men and have had one do something nice for me), and her later breakdown of power and race dynamics is right-on. People recommend a variety of approaches. I've found the advice that I "walk around looking slightly pissed" to be useful in certain situations (it quickly put a stop to the "hey baby" stuff), but in other circumstances, I found this to be true: 1) Look people in the eye, smile, and greet them. Here, that means you know the local ettiquette, and it will often shock young males into polite mode. I have not tried the advice of going around in Oakland Raiders gear. Let me know if you try that one with your local sports team. ;)

Also, sorry if I sounded unsympathetic about your bee bee gun problem. Nine year olds or not, it's not fun to get water balloons dropped on you. But if they are kids, you could probably tease them about "shouldn't you be doing homework?" and then be able to keep walking on that side of the street.
posted by salvia at 10:10 AM on July 6, 2007

So, it's quite possible the cops are aware of what's going on but prefer to let them slide until they have need of them.

Of course the cops know what's going on. People, has The Wire taught us nothing?
posted by mkultra at 10:18 AM on July 6, 2007

There have been better threads along these lines before. No matter what your opinion is on the drug war, or how street smart you'd like to be, people have a right to live in a neighborhood where everyone can feel safe without the need to befriend a drug dealer. Let them take on some healthy shame about their private vices like the rest of us. Starting a tenant's union seems like a good way to gauge your neighbors' interest in increasing safety without necessarily focusing on the drug issue and putting yourself out there as a "crusader." If there's a critical mass of interest, people could begin to pool resources to install better lighting or hire private security (which would solve both of the OP's problems.)

It's also worth noting that these "success" stories are anecdotal. Until we have some statistics on crusaders-with-cement-shoes versus do-nothing-gunshot-bystanders we don't really know the best course of action for one's personal safety. I'd also venture a guess that drug dealing on the streets positively correlates (with causation) with disaffected youth taking potshots at pedestrians from the safety of their apartments.
posted by Skwirl at 11:18 AM on July 6, 2007

My best friend was one of the Manhattan South Narcotics undercovers who cleaned up the East Village in the early '90s, and he often says the same thing that others have mentioned above: the blocks with the most dealers were the safest otherwise, since muggings or assaults would just bring overt police presence and shut down the set.
posted by nicwolff at 1:37 PM on July 6, 2007