Back in June we gave you the exclusive news of a new program that aimed to give low-level, non-violent drug dealers a choice: use the community’s help to clean up and stop dealing, or face the full force of the law for their activity.
That program got underway last week when eighteen dealers were invited to a meeting at Langston Hughes and given that choice. Now three of the eighteen are facing drug charges for failing to live up to their end of the bargain.
Gerald Allen Cowles, 39, attended the intervention meeting last week and agreed to suspend his drug sales activity. However, he was picked up again the next evening with a crack pipe and is now being prosecuted for his original offence, which stems from two controlled buys that were observed by police on May 13th. First, at 5:50pm, he allegedly sold $40 of crack cocaine to a witness who was cooperating with police. The transaction occurred in the witness’s car after Cowles and an un-indicted female accomplice retrieved the drugs from an apartment in the 700 block of 24th Ave. The same witness allegedly purchased another $40 of crack from Cowles after picking up him and the female accomplice at 24th & Pike, driving them around to get some chicken, and then dropping them off again at the apartment in the 700 block of 24th Ave.
Cowles has had forty warrants for his arrest in the past 20 years, and has two previous felony convictions for drug posession. He is held in the King County Jail on a $5,000 bail.
Nekea Marie Terrell, 30, aka “Meeka” and “Kiki”, was invited to attend the meeting last week but declined. She allegedly sold $100 of crack to a police witness in SeaTac on April 15th, and again sold $130 of crack to the same witness on May 1st. Terrell has had fourteen warrants for her arrest since 1997 and three previous drug delivery and possession convictions. Moore is not currently in custody. Although it’s not specified in court documents, it is assumed that she was in the program due to previous drug activity in the 23rd Ave corridor.
Matthew Moore, 40, also declined to attend the DMI meeting last week. He now faces drug charges from a controlled buy operation on May 15th, where he allegedly sold $50 of crack to a police witness at 24th & Union. He has had 20 arrest warrants since 1988, and previous convictions for possession, delivery, theft, property destruction, and criminal trespass. Terrell is not currently in custody.
All three suspects are scheduled for arraignment on their charges later in the month.
I’m hopeful that this initiative will redirect a few people away from a future in prison, which is great – better for them and better for us-, but I don’t really buy that this will reduce the number of drug dealers. Won’t someone else just step in to fill any voids?
Yes, of course.
and it’s probably going to take a long time for positive results. I hope this is even mildly more effective than what’s been happening thus far…because that for sure isn’t working. Patience and diligence.
Yeah, overall, I’m not sure this particular thing will work… but I *know* that what the city’s been doing hasn’t worked.
The really good news is that when they are finally out of prison they CAN NOT return to the CD except to stay at their family’s house. Just go and leave, no hanging out in the CD or they will be arrested again!
I do not like the message that you can commit felonies and have no consequences except to get free education, job training and rehab but I know how much it costs to house someone for a year in prison and this is by far the much cheaper route. We have a problem with drugs and there is no easy solution. But if someone truly wants to be free either as an addict or a seller but does not know how then I am all for giving them the path.
I just hope the current program is effective in training and drug rehabilitation. Either way the money is less regardless.
1. Get them to move to someone else’s neighborhood
2. Legalize and put them out of business.
Where there are people who want to buy drugs, the drug market will remain lucrative. Cracking down and making it more dangerous removes the low level criminals and replaces them with more violent, hardened criminals as prices rise. The more we manage to raise prices, the more money in the pockets of the dealers that remain.
im sure they were in this neighbor hood long before you came here…most of those drug dealers grew up in the cd…that have lived here all their life…maybe you should leave their neighborhood? No im not saying what they do is ok because there is a drug problem but your comment wasnt necessary
Prisons dont reform people, often they create bigger problems in the future the entire prison system needs to be remodeled.
This is a long term problem, and hopefully this will be a longterm solution. Instead of continually finding problems with every plan why dont we support this??? Just sitting at our computers complaining wont help either. Blaming “the powers that be” isnt going to solve anything either.
Lets try this idea and support it. If someone has a better plan then let them bring it to light.
It’s not so much as getting the one dealer out of the way to be filled with 10 more behind them. The bigger picture is to reduce the demand. How? By having the community which is filled with people who know the damage that “Drugs” do to a person and by association, the community that they reside in.
Having those community members being active by looking out for their fellow community members in keeping the “Drugs” out of their community. If you see “Insert Name” doing things that are not conducive to a positive and healthy community, take action! Be part of the community, family, friends and talk about what the dangers are. Does it sound passive? Does talking to your teen about life sound passive? Life is tough. Talking about tough things in life is tough. There used to be a time when the neighborhood knew all about the problems in the community and parents did what was necessary to fix the problems. Insert drug dealers as the neighborhood trouble kid, and you can see how this kind of approach might work. Involve the community, give the community support, and we just might make it through this.
Push the dealers out to other communities, and the other communities see how the dealer got there. That new community applies the same principles and very soon, the dealers have nobody to deal to because there won’t be any communities left that have people in them who want or need the “Drugs”. There are much better ways to deal with life than relying on “Drugs”.
To use a phrase from the “Red Green” show, in which the star of the show gives advice about life, “Remember, I’m pulling for you. We’re all in this together.”; we are all in this together.
Together we need to allow this program, which has shown 40 to 50 percent reductions in violent and drug related crime in the community which first implemented it, to take hold.
As much as I try to be positive..for every person that gets charged. 10 will take their place. I’ve seen this “DMI” approach in several other states like NJ, NY, WV,and even DE. This approach does’nt help! It just makes the city officials “seem” like they are doing something productive. When in reality they are just PROLONGING the problem. This is an EPIDEMIC! you can’t treat epidemic with a bandaid! and a vitamin! They are targeting the “small fish” for $50 dollars of crack, when the “big fishes” are bringing $200,000 worth of cooked crack to Seattle on their boats…It’s just a senseless approach. How come I don’t see the Big fishes being arrested..OR even investigated. Is it because they have lots of Drug money to use to get Great defense attnys? Oh yea..That would have K.C. Courts tied up for years..They don’t want that to happen..I’d love to see Seattle rid itself of this very destructive community disease..But trying to accomplish that with this approach is…is just friggin laughable.
all of you guys are just a bunch of nosy ass white folks that have come to reak havoc on a way of life that is here.
THIS IS JUST ANOTHER FORM OF PROFILING!, AND ALL OF YOU IDIOTS KNOW THIS. hOUSING, JOBS, AND WHAT ELSE? DOES IT TAKE ALL OF THAT. OPEOPLE SHOULD HAVE HAVE JOB OPPORTUNITIES LONG BEFORE THIS. THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES BEFORE THIS. OR IS THIS TRULY JUST ANOTHER WAY TO SELECTIVLY REMOVE INDIVIDUALS FROM THE STREET THAT POSE NO HARM AND HAVE JUST WENT ON TO BECOME A SOURCE FOR ANOTHER FORM OF RELAXATION.
hEY WHITE BOY, YOU BUY WEED JUST LIKE ANYBODY ELSE.
Hey now-there are lots of black folk living in the neighborhood. And it isn’t snitching when black on black crime happens day in and day out. My neighbor & I are always talking about the regulars we see who look like they just got out of the shit dump and can barely talk/ walk or do much else. Can you young folk do something postive/ maybe you don’t think you can but/ maybe you don’t believe you can do much/ maybe you don’t believe in yourself bla bla but there is way more to life than drugs, killing people and jail. Try a different path, trying is the hard part/ work is the hard part/. No one ever taught me to have goals, no one ever taught me to make something for myself, I did not want to end up like the rest of my family 1/2 are dead (drugs) 1/2 in jail (drugs using) my brother and i are the only 2 of 6 that have a good life we had to learn for ourselfs.