Description of the Community

Petersburg is a small city (pop. 38,386) located in south central Virginia approximately 30 miles south of Richmond. It has a historic, but struggling, downtown district that endures a declining industrial economy.

Petersburg’s Weed and Seed target area is made up of three adjacent neighborhoods: Ravenscroft, Delectable Heights and the Harding Street area. The target area is home to approximately 4,690 low-to-moderate income residents who reside in both public and privately-owned housing. All three neighborhoods share similar problems such as drug-related crimes and blighted conditions.

 Overview of Program Strategies

Petersburg’s Weed and Seed program focused on the following activities: eradication of drug-related crime, restoration or demolition of blighted properties, and provision of youth services. Petersburg also closely followed its original program structure for all three years of Weed and Seed funding. Small variations were made in the grant’s activities due to staff turnover in the programs.

Activities that comprised Petersburg’s suppression strategy included narcotic investigations and surveillance operations aimed at drug activity in the target area. Prostitution-free zones and drug-free zones were employed to restrict previously convicted persons from entering specified geographical areas where problem activities were known to exist. Additionally, there was full-time police presence in the Weed and Seed neighborhoods.

Community Policing activities in the target area were directed by two community police officers assigned to work in the target area neighborhoods. This assignment included acting as members of the Neighborhood Support Team, a group that consisted of police, building, fire, and zoning code officials, and a civil compliance officer.

Seed activities that addressed prevention, intervention, treatment and neighborhood restoration focused on multiple issues. Educational and recreational youth activities were supervised by the Boys and Girls Club and by the Petersburg Police Athletic League (PPAL). Assistance with daycare costs was made available to qualified residents of the target area. In addition, monthly meetings were held with neighborhood residents. Finally, blight elimination, demolition activities, building repairs and community clean-up efforts served to revitalize the target area neighborhoods.

Description of the Petersburg Program – Third Year

For the third program year, funding was approved for the following activities:

• Overtime (1695 hours) for police officers to maintain current levels of community policing presence in the target area, and to support investigations, controlled buys and informant fees;
• Two community police officers assigned to work in the target area;

• A computer instructor and equipment for the PPAL program;
• PPAL Boxing Academy equipment and travel costs;
• PPAL rented space expenses;
• Demolition of blighted properties;
• Assistance with daycare costs;
• Community survey expenses; and
• Supplies for community meetings.

Weed and Community-Oriented Policing Activities

Weed strategies in Petersburg concentrated on community policing functions as well as sweep and checkpoint activities. Community police officers assigned to the target area organized most of the activities. These officers operated out of a building in the neighborhood used as a community substation that also housed the Petersburg Police Department’s Bike Patrol and the Neighborhood Support Team. Officers attended regular community meetings in the target area and planned other special operations. Narcotic investigations and surveillance operations were accomplished through the Multi-Disciplinary Investigative Team which largely focused on drug trafficking and associated crimes. Additionally, the City implemented a Street Crimes Unit specifically to target the area.

The Weed and Seed officers collaborated in a multi-agency operation in the target area that led to the arrest of multiple drug traffickers. Other activities that contributed to the Weed strategy included: beat officers that met and talked with residents and business owners in the target area, enforcement of nuisance violations and code compliance, and use of a marked police department bus parked in the target area to increase perception of police presence and deter crime.

Other staff from the Petersburg Police Department worked to improve understanding between the police and the neighbors in the target area. The Crime Prevention Specialist and the School Safety Planner met with citizens to explain the concept of Community-Oriented Policing and the citizen’s role in making their neighborhood a safer place to live.

Seed Activities

Petersburg’s Seed efforts concentrated on youth recreation and educational activities, daycare assistance and eradicating blight. A part-time Program Coordinator compensated with Weed and Seed funds organized the Boys and Girls Club activities. These activities included homework assistance, conflict resolution, computer skills training, cultural enrichment, and recreational activities. Approximately 20% of the children enrolled at the Boys and Girls Club were from the target area, and outreach efforts were made to recruit more target area youth. PPAL provided a computer skills course for children and teens and was piloting an adult computer skills course. PPAL also provided recreational activities to area youth including the addition of a Boxing Academy to its program. Boxing equipment and instruction were provided to interested youth, and transportation funds were provided to send participating youth to New York for the National Police Athletic League Olympic Junior Boxing tournament.

The Tabernacle Baptist Church Daycare program provided financial assistance for daycare costs to qualified families in the target area. To qualify, applicants were required to be either working or transitioning from welfare to work. In another Seed effort, the blight elimination efforts involved neighborhood clean-ups and the removal of derelict structures. Additional work that occurred in this area included the conversion of public housing to owner-occupied residential townhouses. The demolition of derelict structures and the conversion of public housing also received funding from other sources in addition to the Weed and Seed initiative.

Other activities that enhanced the Weed and Seed effort in the target area neighborhood included Operation Clean Sweep, which brought persons with assigned community service hours into the neighborhoods to help clean up the area. The Neighborhood Support Officer (part of the Neighborhood Support Team) assisted with this program by supervising the participants. Clean-up efforts included picking up litter, removing weeds, and repairing homes owned by elderly citizens.

Obstacles to Program Implementation

The Petersburg Weed effort did experience some obstacles to program implementation. During the third-year grant period, two community police officers assigned to the target area resigned from the department, and the Sergeant who acted as the Weed program coordinator was injured and out on disability. This left only two officers assigned to the target area for much of the third year. This reduction in staff affected the ability to deliver services and maintain previous levels of activity. Citizen buy-in has also been an ongoing problem for the Petersburg Seed program. Plans to create a Citizens Patrol program were never realized due to residents’ lack of interest. Additionally, coordinators reported that some residents of the target area neighborhoods expressed their displeasure with police checkpoints and additional patrols, and were uncomfortable talking with officers in their neighborhoods.

Summary of Program Activities

Petersburg’s Weed and Seed program efforts focused on increased police presence through overtime patrol hours and full-time community police officers assigned to the target area. The Seed element highlighted removal of blighted properties from the target area and youth activities through PPAL.

During the third year of the Weed and Seed program in Petersburg, Weed funds supported an average of 6 part-time and full-time officers who worked an average of 535 hours in the target area per month. Over the span of the third grant year, 199 law enforcement special operations were conducted which resulted in 491 arrests, 13% of which were for drug violations. Additionally, 21 checkpoint operations were conducted which resulted in one DUI charge and 14 drug arrests.

During the third grant year, officers executed 6 search warrants in the target area. In addition, the region’s multi-jurisdictional task force conducted an operation that resulted in the arrest of 15 drug traffickers. Nuisance violations were also a focus of Petersburg’s Community Policing strategy in the target area. During the grant year, this effort resulted in over 90 inoperable vehicle citations and approximately 52 citations for decal violations.

Calls-for-service in the target area averaged 758 a month, comprising about 14% of the citywide total. Eighteen firearms were seized in the target area during the third grant year, which accounted for about 22% of the firearms seized citywide. A total of $6,438 worth of illegal drugs was seized in the target area during the third grant year.

Over the span of the first six months of the third grant year, Petersburg’s Seed Program Administrator attended 2 community meetings and 7 neighborhood association meetings in the target area. During this same time frame, blight elimination efforts resulted in the demolition of 15 blighted structures. Program participation for Petersburg’s other Seed efforts is detailed in Table 8.

Arrest Statistics for the Petersburg Target Area

In analyzing Petersburg’s IBR offense and arrest data for the third year of Weed and Seed, no significant trends or patterns were discernable. The three most common types of arrests made in the Petersburg target area are displayed in Table 9.

* Includes drug equipment violation

The arrests made for these three offenses, drug / narcotic violations, trespass, and simple assault, represent 49% of all arrests made in the target area. Simple assaults made up 76% of all assaults in the target area. (See Appendix C for a breakdown of third-year IBR offense and arrest data for Petersburg’s target area.)

Summary Assessment by Local Weed and Seed Coordinators

At the end of the third year of the Weed and Seed program, program coordinators were asked their opinions about the grant activities they were most pleased with as well as those which did not fulfill expectations. Petersburg officials identified several different components of the Weed and Seed program with which they were particularly satisfied. The reduction in the number of abandoned and derelict structures and level of property rehabilitation that took place in the target area were noted as very positive developments. The elevated level of policing and higher number of arrests have reportedly increased the public’s confidence in the ability of police and citizens to improve the area’s quality of life.

However, some desired accomplishments were not realized. The Citizens Patrol program never became operational. Many of the residents in the area are elderly and reportedly did not want to get involved in such a program. Coordinators indicated that some residents feel that it is the sole responsibility of the police to prevent and control crime.

Continuation Plans

The community substation established in the Weed and Seed target area will remain operational. Area community police officers and the Neighborhood Support Team will continue to base operations from that location to maintain a police presence in the area. Neighborhood restoration efforts will also continue, as a rehabilitation district designation is currently under study for a part of the target area.

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