Norfolk police raid six locations seeking 29 drug suspects

I am disgusted by the waste of a city with so much potential. I have watched cities not located on the water near international shipping ports, without the military economic engine bypass Norfolk as if Norfolk were somewhere in mid Louisiana. It's why I point it out. Instead of living in an area in apathy try doing something about it. Raise heck with your council when they use tax dollars foolishly. Get stomping mad when you see open crime and an understaffed underfunded police department while giving millions of your tax dollars to private for profit businesses who have wooed your local government. Stating the crime rates for the inner city (city limit of roughly 400K inhabitants) of another area may make you feel good but won't improve the facts. I'm 10 minutes from downtown and in an area that has some of the lowest crime rates in the NATION. Look it up. Yeah, it's why I took my skills, disposable income, taxes, community involvement, and fled to a more desireable area. Which is what Norfolk needs to wake up and see. Businesses need people.

Point well taken, thanks!

Source Atlanta Police Dept. Crime mapping feature. Cant run the last 24 hours, but here is the tally for one month ago today (24 hour period.) for the Ivory Tower City. They don't include hookers, discarded needles or condoms in this report however.
04/11/08
Homicide (2)
Robbery (8)
Agg. Assault (10)
Res. Burglary (18)
Non-Res. Burglary (3)
Larceny (9)
Vehicle Larceny (24)
Auto Theft (23)
Total Crime Count 97

I've NEVER heard gun fire out of my window, and never had a violent crime around my Norfolk home. In my 20's and 30's I've live in any number of states and even abroad, but I kept coming back to Norfolk, not because my family was here but because I saw potential. I remember OV as the slums it had turned into, I remember the amusement park with sailors and hooker everywhere, I remember the street walkers and, open drug activity, and wouldn't drive or go to the area at that time. To say, that OV has not improved over the years is not only ill-informed, but ridiculus, and I question the validity of so called credentials. I'm not a fan of a number of Norfolk plans or elected officials, but the grass is never greener on the other side. My objective is to work for reform and improvements that I feel are important. I'm a retired successful businessman. Yes, it's easy to sit back in your ivory tower and blast Norfolk, but it's something else to live here and work for improvements.

Interesting theory but....wasn't raised in Norfolk thank gosh. Bullies, not that I recall. Parents together 60 years. Mmmm...what could it be...what could it be? Have lived a whole lot of places, various geographies, and liked most but have the common sense to not live in a slum. Have worked with gov. officials in many roles regarding public infrastructure over the years and made a dang good living at it. Was actually invited to VA to do the same. Have enough sense to recognize bad goverment practices as well and to voice an educated opinion. Some may not like that and lash out....as children will. Actually, I did leave. I voted with my feet as many former Norfolk residents have. Might explain why just over a year ago Norfolk was losing population at the fastest rate in the nation. Lots of bad childhoods out there. I don't hear gunfire out of my window tonite.

Norfolk is the pits and where some people live is Heaven. If I disliked Norfolk as badly as some I'd sell my property and never return, but perhaps the problem is deeper. Bad childhood, school bullies, parents not always there, any number of emotions can hit hard and equate to a geographical area. Hey, what do I know, I happen to like my home, neighbors, and friends in Norfolk, and I'm not originally from here.

If 48 is young then I am young. Was a long time resident of Norfolk until I fled due to tiring of inept government, exponentially increasing taxes, and low quality of life. I still own a personal home in Norfolk. Wasn't looking for thorns. Could not avoid them. Was looking for progress. Saw some cheaply constructed new structures in the midst of a drug area. The article today about progress downtown is hilarious. Norfolk is not bucking any trend. It has been left behind. Fraim needs to get out more. Look at Raleigh, Charlotte, Nashville, Asheville, Atlanta, Myrtle Beach, Jacksonville, FL, on and on and on. There is so much development going in tax unassisted in these cities that it is hard to fathom. Was in Charlotte last week doing some consulting. The blight rail there was budgeted at around $230M. There were over $200M in overruns. You read right. Over budget by over $200M! Local taxes have to make up the difference. All over the radio, news, and conversation on the street. Politicians all pointing fingers at each other. People are MAD. Similar to the fiasco in St Louis. Only budgeting 5% for overruns is fiscialy irresponsible. The other issue you hear is noise. These things

There are throns in every rose garden, and you went out looking only for the thorns. Yes OV still has problems, but as a resident, I can tell you first hand a great deal has been done in the area. Some of the places you mentioned are already scheduled to be torn down. You must be very young or a non-resident not to see the changes made in OV. I guess your neighborhood is perfect.

If drugs were legalized, violent drug related crime would vanish overnight. The economically challenged communities of the entire country should be the ones marching on DC to end the oppressive laws that keep their neighborhoods war zones. Gee what a dent they made. I bet the customers of these folks found what they needed within the hour after not being able to contact the arrested dealers. Legislating morality DOES NOT WORK!
Human intolerance will soon end.

People have bad mouth'd Park Place for years-- However, have you ever wondered where the bad element came from? it wasn't always there..-- LAYFAYTTE SHORES!--YES I have been a resident of Virginia Place-- Not Park Place for 28 years.. great neighborhood and all.. in the early ninties the city of norfolf demo'd lafayette shores-- the bad element came over to park place and wrecked the place..crime went thru the roof and people did not feel safe..now lafayette shores is a gated communnity and park place is shunned like a step son. give me a break---Norfolk is a nice city- the news just love using park place as a common tool to report drugs and volience--- there have been more murders and break ins in va beach this year than norfolk...give me a break---I do give the police massive praise for doing what they do...protect and serve--isn't that there job?---ahh yeah...does my wife give me extra praise for taking care of my family--isn't that my job?--wow..drugs suck---people that use drugs are mentally done..please tell the NRHA to finish what they started.. one block is bee-u-ta-ful.. they next block looks like IRAQ--seriouslly what is city hall doing---and can we get a real baseball an

It is good to hear about the police cracking down on the drug thugs and their friends. These people have no place in our society and deserve to sit behind bars where they can only do harm to themselves or other criminals.

And to the people who posted that these drug raids are a waste of time and do nothing, I say w-h-a-t-e-v-e-r. Of course the police and fed go after the bigger players but to allow the small time players to have free reign is an ignorant policy.

As for the junkies... survival of the fittest man. Clean up or get cleaned out.

Great Job!! BZ-
Police could probably do some good at the colleges/schools like the San Diego police did to San Diego State. Persistence

Operation Streetsweeper is a local initiative to Operation Weed and Seed which aims to prevent, control, and reduce violent crime, drug abuse, and gang activity in designated "high-crime neighborhoods." Weed/Seed intiatives seek to remove criminals from neighborhoods and bring human services to the area such as intervention to reclaim the community. Operation Weed and Seed, fails because it removes the street level crime and drugs but it fails to provide the community some type of enrichment to keep crime prone individuals out of the neighborhoods. The targets of this raid included Park Place, Berkely and Campostella (which Berkley and Campostella are split over the Chesapeake Boarder, and have a high prevalence of crime as well in the Chesapeake Area)
Operation Streetsweeper can be a good initiative for the City of Norfolk, but Marquis and the City Manager must follow up with some plans to help these neighborhoods clean up and repair "broken windows" in order to clean up the community.

Just to relate back to the comment about Race...anytime we face issues in the criminal justice system, especially with drug use/abuse/distribution, it will ALWAYS be an issue of Social Status, whether that is race or lower class. I agree anyone can use drugs, but typically the targets of drug issues, especially the ones the CJ system deals with primarily have to deal with low income drugs - Whitney didn't say crack was cheap for no reason. You don't see officers raiding suburban homes for Meth possession and sale or Cocaine use. Look at our sentencing Laws - Crack v. Powder Cocaine.

The local police departments should combine their drug crackdown with an effort to reduce/curtail gang activity. If one net doesn't catch the criminal, the other net will.

Once convicted, don't just throw the bums in jail. Put them to work cleaning streets and removing graffiti.

Oh yeah. I drove around Ocean View last week after hearing to check out for myself all these rumors of it "cleaning up". I saw run down convenience stores with trash in the lots and suspicious characters hanging around outside. Club Platinum looked really nice. I saw run down crack hotels with signs boasting $190 / wk rates. I saw shanties with tin foil and plywood over the windows and big gaudy "No Treaspassing" signs nailed on the sides. I saw at least 3 "girls" walking with what appeared to be pimps who would stare and nod trying to get attention as I drove by. I walked the beach and saw trash, building materials, drug paraphenalia, and condoms. I witnessed obvious hand to hand drug activity on one side street and gangs of roaming shirtless youths with pants around the ankles. Really looked like progress has been made.

I think the police forgot that there is a big drug and gang problem in EOV. Just watch the news and look at the recent crimes in EOV. Round up all these bums, they can't be that hard to find, they roam the streets all day long doing nothing. At night they can be found on the street corners. City Council should be required to walk the streets of EOV at night and maybe then they they would stop telling themselves that EOV is safe.

the norfolk police have been sweeping the streets for 30 years. drug use has grown more and more. the police, should sweep, on a weekly basis..and put up more camra's on street corners where drugs are being sold at........

Good job and great city cooperation. Maybe the drug jerks will understand that city boundaries make no difference.

For every 1 they put in jail 2 more will surface. One of the problems I see with this is they went after the petty hustlers. Get to the root go after the big dogs. The ones that they arrested probably already posted bail or time will be reduced because they snitched on someone. Stick to the books. If they are caught make them do the maxium amount of time, no reduction including if they are in a school district they get x amount of time. This should be an ongoing project not everynow and then. And don't say they don't have the monies to supply or hire the officers they have money to do what ever else they want.

The area between 27 and 28 Block of Granby has been a nightmare for several years. It's about time something was finally done. Like someone else said where were the locations in Chesapeake. Nothing specific was revealed there. Why not?

NYC Born & Raised: Good job guys. Clean the streets now so the kids can have a wonderful summer and not be worried about being safe in OUR streets.

Some still believe street level busts do something to the drug trade? Let an ex-addict share something with you. Junkies will hit the streets tomorrow like nothing happened. Today few, if any, junkies had their day ruined behind these busts. No true dent, as the article mentions (no bust over $1000), was made; today's holes in the market were filled as fast as they were made. Did people doing wrong get busted? Sure. Does it feel like something happened? Sure. Did anything really happen? No. The drug war is lost as it's not being fought. It's too easy to stop it at the international levels, yet it rolls along. The DEA knows the source countries, transfer countries, and where it enters our borders. Unless they want to lose they shouldn't be. So just sit back and get high on thinking something beyond public relations happened today. Street junkies and dealers can still buy and sell on the streets, and "upstanding" junkies can still get dope in "good" neighborhoods in Virginia Beach. Research marijuana; it's illegal but the 2nd largest cash crop in America after wheat. It's stealth camouflage must hide it so well.

As far as I'm concerned, they can't sweep the streets enough. Glad to see my tax money getting put to good work for a change.

Did the Chesapeake police find anymore bad guys Like Ryan growing Japanese Maple trees?

Raids were conducted in Chesapeake; which neighborhoods were they? Full coverage is fair coverage.

There are drug dealers in Norfolk?????

Someone in this comment section has to say 'race'. It is some people's answer to everything that happens. Drugs are used by white, black, hispanic, and all other races. I don't care what color you are, you are a human being! If you do something wrong, you should get punished.

The Norfolk police were busy today.

Riddick. . Another reason I'd NEVER consider living in Norfolk. What a horrible city. It's interesting that some fools actually bought expensive condos there like around Ghent, and pretend it's nice. Yuck.