More police activity

When I got off the bus one evening last week, there were a few marked and unmarked police cars surrounding another car outside our parking lot. It appeared to be a drug bust - of either buyers or dealers. The subjects were white and male and female so I can safely conclude that they are buyers. (I couldn't tell how many there were since there were a few plainclothes cops and I didn't want to stand and gawk.) It has been an ongoing complaint that Reservoir Hill and other neighborhoods around here are the markets for white folks from other neighborhoods. Father Tom, who is the neighborhood fixture and historian, recognizes some of the frequent buyers. The police department appears to be responding to community pressure to crack down on buyers by carrying out such busts. A responsive city hall is encouraging but residents also recognize that such measures merely drive the buyers to other neighborhoods. That is not so encouraging. In the long run, the suppression of the drug trade through police action does not seem to be the answer although I must say it feels good when it is my neighborhood the dealers and their customers are staying away from. It conjures up the image of people going around with shovels to pound down gopher hills. The critters will simply pop up elsewhere in the meadow.