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Chattanooga: Confiscated drug money expected to provide public housing activities for youths

By: Yolanda Putman
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Jannette Elder

In 2007, Chattanooga Housing Authority police confiscated $15,000 from drug deals at public housing developments, the largest amount of drug money seized so far in one year, officials said.

Plans are to use some of the money to promote a CHA crime prevention hotline, purchase bicycles for community police officers and provide activities for youths, said CHA Chief of Police Felix Vess.

“It’s not about putting people in jail every day,” he said Tuesday. “We want young people to know the community does care. That’s the main reason why we’ve done what we’ve done.”

CHA Police also pledged $1,500 to the housing authority’s citywide advisory council. Jesse Lawrence, president of the council, said members are waiting to get the money in hand before they decide exactly how to spend it.

The council wants to use some of the money to purchase T-shirts for the housing authority’s Stop the Violence program, Ms. Lawrence said. The shirts will be worn by neighborhood leaders who are volunteering to knock on doors to collect guns and turn them into the police, she said.

Jannette Elder, vice president of the advisory council, said she hopes some of its money could be used this year for summer camp.

“If you don’t have activities, the youth have nothing to do,” Ms. Elder said. “That’s idle time and that causes disruption.”

The housing police started donating the money to the advisory council in 2007 because tips from residents helped them make more than 100 drug busts during the year, Chief Vess said.

Police have confiscated $43,000 in the past five years, he said. In that time, housing police have used the money to buy bicycles for a police bike patrol, to fund after-school and summer camp activities and anti-gang programs and to purchase athletic uniforms for East Lake area ball teams.

“We want to help the kids 24 and under and to let them know that they don’t have to default to violence,” Chief Vess said.

Having officers on bicycles helps improve communication with residents because the officers become more accessible, Mr. Vess said. It also helps to save on gas for vehicles, he said.

The crime hotline has been around for five years, but Mr. Vess said he wants to spread the word about it by providing refrigerator magnets and paraphernalia with the number. Residents who spot a crime can call, give the time, location and details about the crime while remaining anonymous, Mr. Vess said.