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News
Release DEA And Detroit Police Strike A Blow Against Public Housing Drug Sales SEP 30-- On September 22, 2004, agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Detroit and the Detroit Police Department Narcotics Enforcement Section collaborated on a large-scale sweep of drug dealers conducting “open air” drug sales in the Jefferies East public housing complex in Detroit. The Jefferies housing units are some of Detroit’s most notoriously violent and drug ridden anywhere in the City of Detroit. A large contingent of officers cleared through the development conducting numerous arrests on street corner “hip” dealers and quickly followed with multiple search warrants being executed on housing units supplying the retail street sellers. While searching these residences, police found units where openings had been cut in the walls of one unit to connect it to abandoned adjoining units. As police raided the target unit, subjects would run through the hole in the walls and attempt to escape by exiting an adjoining unit. Police seized a significant amount of drugs, currency and weapons during this enforcement action which resulted in the arrest of nearly two dozen traffickers. Efforts by the DEA, Detroit Police Department and the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are only a first step in a continued presence in Detroit’s public housing system where residents have been unnecessarily subjected to wide-scale drug sales, violence and intimidation. Special Agent in Charge John P. Gilbride of the DEA Detroit is sending the message that “business as usual” will not continue in Detroit’s public housing. The DEA has established a Unified High Intensity Drug Trafficking (HIDTA) Task Force focusing their efforts throughout Detroit’s public housing system to have a significant local impact thereby improving the quality of life for the residents and children of these areas.
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