"Operation Southside," the weekend's massive raid against drugs and violence, was the seventh sweep the police department has conducted since Thomas C. Frazier became Baltimore's top cop nearly a year ago.
It would be naive to suggest that these kinds of raids -- which were sorely lacking under Commissioner Edward Woods -- will run drug lords out of the city altogether. More accurate is to describe these periodic sweeps as armed propaganda: The police department is taking a stand and telling addicts and traffickers that the days of unhindered open-air drug markets are over.
We hail the systematic way in which the police are conducting these raids. Instead of just rounding up the usual suspects at the street corners and busting them for possession, each raid has been preceded by undercover work. When the sweep eventually takes place, police are armed with warrants charging the ringleaders of a particular area's drug operation with specific crimes, particularly violence. Thus, even if drugs are not found on premises on the day of the raid, police have a case to pursue in courts.
It is too soon to judge the success of the raids. Certainly Baltimore Midway, along the Greenmount Avenue corridor, looks far different today than before the first raid in March. A total of 23 alley houses that were used by traffickers and addicts as shooting galleries have been demolished, tons of trash hauled away. There are fewer people hanging out at street corners.
Credit for the improvement goes beyond the police. If Mr. Frazier's raids have made a difference, the success is due in large part to cooperation with various municipal agencies, particularly housing and public works. By using a "same-place, same-time" strategy those bureaucracies are signaling to residents of embattled neighborhoods that crime and grime do not have to be a way of life and that law-abiding individuals can make a difference.
The police department credits the sweeps against drugs and violence for a substantially lower homicide rate this year. They also say that in the Midway communities, the crime rate is still 42 percent lower than before the raid in March. With new surveillance capabilities, such as a dozen video cameras distributed to the various districts, police hope to sustain these gains.
This year's series of neighborhood raids has been a confidence building measure to reassure a demoralized police department and disenchanted public that things can change. The road ahead will be difficult and uneven, but this is a good start.