High noon at the housing project: Chicagoan Vincent Lane organizes 'sweeps' to drive out drug dealers

Ebony, August, 1989

HIGH NOON AT THE HOUSING PROJECT

YOU live in Rockwell Gardens, a Chicago Housing Authority project.

Your nerves are frayed from the daily staccato of gunfire.

You're afraid to sleep in bed, finding safety in a closet or in the bathtub.

Outside, rival gangs of drug dealers are warring over a chunk of real estate they call turf -- and you're in their crossfire.

The police have othe rpriorities and problems, and bureaucrats are slow to respond.

So who are you going to call? Try Vincent Lane, who became executive director of the Chicago Housing Authority in 1988.

The West Side project was the most dangerous CHA development in 1986 and 1987. And in 1988, for every 1,000 Rockwell residents, 54 violent crimes--almost all drug-related--were committed. Indeed, the buildings were infested with and controlled by gangs. That is, until Lane, who for 18 years developed and managed his own low-income housing units, busted in with a novel crime-fighting approach called Operation Clean Sweep. The program eventually purged one of the Rockwell buildings of criminals and boosted community morale. After that, the crime rate plummeted dramatically in that unit.

"Drugs drive crime, and drug dealers have found a haven for their business in public housing," says Lane. "What we're doing is akin to knocking off the classroom bullies. As a result, there's a sense of renewed community spirit in Rockwell Gardens."

Operation Clean Sweep is a painstakingly executed, paramilitary program that has proven to be an effective weapon in the war on drugs in urban housing. Initially, critics, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, challenged the program's questionable application of due process. But no one questions its results. Crime has fallen 36 percent at the city's huge violence-plagued Cabrini-Green projects, 32 percent at Rockwell Gardens, and at a similar rate at other CHA buildings raided in the past year. Police estimated that about 80 percent of the crime involved drug sales.

When the CHA decides to move in on a crime-ridden building, usually it is at the request of desperate residents seeking relief with hundreds of signed petitions. The CHA responds by declaring an emergency, which permits a police task force to secure the building by surrounding it and occupying hallways. Then, shielded by a liberal interpretation of forfeiture laws and federal racketeering laws that allow for seizure of lease rights and the proper of suspected drug dealers, CHA management and security teams knock on doors and gain access to each occupied apartment, ostensibly to trouble-shoot for items in need of repair.

"If, by chance, we uncover weapons or drugs," says Lane, "We file a complaint with the police and they go in and arrest the occupant.c In some cases, tenants are evicted under federal raccketeering laws that are usually employedi n seizure of property of suspected drug dealers. It is perhaps the first time authorities have used the law to seize thelease rights of housing project tenants.

Once the building is "swept," legitimate residents above the age of seven are issued photo identification cards that they must show a permanent security staff upon entering the building. Unlike many urban high-rises, the CHA's 238 buildings are open facilities, and, by the time the police and CHA have pulled out their forces some six hours later, emergency exits and an iron gate at the lobby entrance have been installed by CHA workmen to protect law-abiding tenants. "Drug dealers get the message right away," Lane says. "That's why the crime rate goes down instantly."

The first building Lane raided didn't suffer a single violent crime for the next four months, compared with 17 such crimes, including a murder, just prior to the sweep. "Where do the displaced gangs go?" asks Mardren Johnson, CHA's director of security. "They relocate to the next building, but once we get the entire development under control, we'll be rid of drug-related problems in the projects. As expensive as the process is, it must be done."

With $8.4 million in federal funds already set aside for the training and implementation of a 300-man CHA police force, Lane says he needs about $30 million more to cover increased operating and other costs. For now, he's creating an incentive program whereby tenants receive rebates on their rents if they maintain graffiti-free walls, for example. "We punish the criminals and reward the decent folk," he says of his innovative style. "It's as simple as that."