INC NEWS - Fund Police 2 Citizen System

[Ken Gasch]

At February's PAC II Coffee with Council, we asked our City Council to fund the Police 2 Citizen (P2C) system.  This system will enable "we the people" to access public police data on-line.  This system will cost our city less than $30K to install.  We will save millions of dollars by installing this system.  

This needed upgrade is currently in danger of being cut from our budget.  Let's support our hard working officers and push for this system to be funded.  

Here is one example of how a P2C system will benefit our wonderful city:  At the same Coffee with Council, Fred Foster told us about a community concern that Old Farm neighborhood is dealing with.  The Parker family had recently rented an apartment at Carriage House Apartments.  Prior to this move, the Parker's home on 118 S. Driver was raided by our PD.  These arrest records would have been more than enough reason to deny the Parker's residency at the Carriage House.  A P2C system would have provided that information.  

Ken Gasch
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'Drug dwelling' busted
Police have been raiding house for over a decade

Originally published in:
The Herald-Sun
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Edition: Final
Page: D1

BY RAY GRUENBERG gronberg at heraldsun.com; 419-6648

Durham Police Department officers raided a South Driver Street home Tuesday that had recently been called the city's "poster-child drug house," making three arrests and securing a warrant accusing its owner of maintaining a drug dwelling.

The raid came only four days after the house, 118 S. Driver St., figured prominently in a discussion at the monthly meeting of Durham's City/County Crime Cabinet.

Police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said officers mounted the raid "in response to complaints from area residents," but didn't specify whether the prod came from the Crime Cabinet.

City Manager Patrick Baker noted that police have raided several alleged drug houses in recent weeks and downplayed the possible connection.

"Drug raids [aren't] something they decide to do in one day," he said. "Usually they're planned for a significant amount of time in advance. You don't do drug raids in a reactionary mode."

Michael said the officers who conducted Tuesday's raid confiscated drug paraphernalia and 13 rocks of crack cocaine.

They arrested three men. The most serious of the charges lodged against them accuses Tony O. Parker, 18, of possession of cocaine with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver.

Rickey Kenny Parker, 45, faces a count of possessing cocaine, and Ricky Lloyd Cates, 51, faces a count of possessing drug paraphernalia.

In addition, officers secured a warrant charging the home's owner, Nettie Parker, 74, with maintaining a drug dwelling. She was not arrested during the morning raid.

Tony Parker is Nettie Parker's grandson, and Rickey Parker is her son, Michael said.

Officers swept in at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, pulling up to the curb in a van and several other vehicles. They approached the front door rapidly, and when ready, yelled "search warrant" and pushed their way inside. About 20 officers participated.

The raid

While securing the scene, officers found a man who'd apparently been sleeping inside a van parked in the yard beside the house. One officer handcuffed the man while another covered him with his weapon.

The rest of the team congregated inside the house or on the porch. After a while, they started bringing handcuffed men out of the house one by one.

News of the raid pleased the Rev. Melvin Whitley, an East Durham activist who spoke up about the house during last week's Crime Cabinet meeting.

Whitley used the term "poster-child drug house" during the meeting and repeated the first two words of the phrase during an interview Tuesday afternoon. "By far, there are more of these in East Durham, but that one--we just can't seem to come to a resolution about how to deal with [it]," he said. "And it's been around a long time."

Durham police have in fact been raiding the house or arresting its occupants off and on since at least 1992. Nettie Parker has one conviction on her record for a felony count of possessing Schedule II drugs. She received a suspended sentence and probation for that offense, according to N.C. Department of Correction records.

The history of the house

Police raided 118. S. Driver St. twice in 1993 and charged people living there with drug offenses in 1996 and 1997 and in 2002. Earlier this year, police pursued weapons charges against other residents there.

Whitley told the Crime Cabinet last week that the problems at the house abate only in response to police pressure. "It'll start up and stop," he said on Friday. "As soon as you get some heat it'll stop, and four or five months later it's back."

City authorities tried in 1999 to have the house declared a public nuisance, which could have exposed the Parker family to the risk of losing it by forfeiture. The Parkers fought back, however, challenging the ruling and refusing to concede that any drug deals had occurred on the property.

Their lawyer at the time, Bill Thomas, said there was no evidence that Nettie Parker and her husband were involved in illegal activity occurring near the house. Thomas accused authorities of selectively going after minority-owned property.

Criminal records

Police "have been unsuccessful in controlling crime at Hart and Driver streets," Thomas said that summer. "Due to their inability, they would like to blame Mr. and Mrs. Parker. Drug activity in that area is the problem of the police, not Mr. and Mrs. Parker."

Two of the men arrested Tuesday, Cates and Rickey Parker, have extensive criminal records, according to the Department of Correction.

Cates has been in prison four times. His first term lasted for eight years from 1979 to 1987 and followed a conviction for armed robbery. His most recent stretch lasted for four months, which ended on Jan. 29 and followed convictions for larceny, shoplifting, injury to real property and driving while his license was revoked.

Rickey Parker has been in prison three times since 1996. Drug charges figured in all three of those sentences. His most recent term lasted a year, ending on June 25, 2004, and followed convictions for possessing Schedule II drugs and paraphernalia. He served a month less than three years from 1998 to 2001 on drug-dealing and conspiracy charges.

© Copyright by The Durham Herald Company. Original copyright 2005. Copyright renewed 2006. All rights reserved. All material on heraldsun.com is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws and may not be reproduced or redistributed in any medium except as provided in the site's Terms of Use.
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