McNaughton urges police to get drug dealing ‘off Main Street’

Efforts to create an anti-loitering ordinance, or update the town’s public nuisance ordinance in an effort to deter drug crime aren’t going to be easy.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140814/NEWS02/708149926

Published August 14, 2014 in the Rutland Herald McNaughton urges police to get drug dealing ‘off Main Street’ By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — Efforts to create an anti-loitering ordinance, or update the town’s public nuisance ordinance in an effort to deter drug crime aren’t going to be easy. Springfield Select Board’s ordinance subcommittee met with Springfield Police Chief Douglas Johnston and Officer Larry Muldoon on Tuesday, with both officers saying that focused laws and regulations were a big plus to law enforcement, but the laws could not be “vague.” “They need to be specific,” Johnston said. Select Board member George McNaughton said he would probably be accused of being “callous and inconsiderate” but what he wanted from the police was to push the drug dealers and drug users off Main Street and the town’s parks and back into private homes. People in Springfield have used illegal drugs for years, he said, “screwing up their life,” but he said what alarms the general public is the public nature of drug use now. “I want to drive drugs out of overt public places,” McNaughton said. “People are shooting up in the playground. I want to drive them out of public spaces. It will make the people slightly more comfortable to come downtown and not be confronted by drug dealers.” But board member Stephanie Thompson said she disagreed with McNaughton and said she wouldn’t be satisfied with just pushing the drug problem out of sight. “I want the problem entirely out of the community,” Thompson said. McNaughton said the town is spending “thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars” on drug enforcement activity. He urged Johnston to let Vermont State Police and its drug task force “take the lead” and for his department to focus on local concerns. “So people feel comfortable walking downtown,” he urged the two police officers. Muldoon, who has been with the local department for two years, said that the town had to decide what its law enforcement priorities were. “It all comes down to resources,” said Muldoon. Muldoon asked whether it made sense for the town’s two on-duty officers to be focused on loitering in the downtown area, when there are other issues in town. He mentioned domestic violence calls, as well as patrolling the entire town. Also on hand was Kimberly Bombria, who has collected more than 1,000 signatures in the past month or so calling for an “anti-gang” anti-loitering ordinance. Bombria said hundreds of people are tired of being intimidated by people hanging out downtown, many of whom have been arrested by police for drug dealing. Bombria and her sister-in-law, Christine Bombria, said parents no longer feel safe letting their kids go to Springfield Town Library alone. The library is adjacent to the Woolson Block, the scene of a lot of the sidewalk loitering. Kimberly Bombria based her petition on anti-gang legislation in Chicago, but McNaughton, a lawyer, said it hadn’t been fully tested in the courts. Muldoon, who came to Vermont after being a police officer in California, said the town of Rocklin, Calif., had citizen volunteers who were trained and screened and acted as the “eyes and ears” of the police. Muldoon, who is on sick leave recovering from a broken leg, was asked by McNaughton to attend the meeting. Thompson said the committee needed to do more research on other communities’ ordinances to see what works, and another meeting of the committee was not scheduled. “We need to look at other towns,” she said.