March 5, 2009 – St. John residents hope Wednesday's action by the Police Department and the Public Works Department to clean up a known drug "hot spot" in Cruz Bay won't be the last.
"I'm hoping this will be the first step in changing the way we deal with drugs and the people who are involved in it," a St. John resident who did not want to be identified said Thursday.
Police top officials got an earful several weeks ago about the situation when St. John Administrator Leona Smith invited the Police Department to a town meeting. Several people brought up the issue of the area where drugs were sold and used.
Police Department spokesman Melody Rames said the Police Department plans future clean ups at other locations around St. John that are known to be drug havens. She said Deputy Police Chief Darren Foy indicated the police will no longer allow people conducting illegal activities to do them in abandoned structures.
Rames said police officers and staff from the Public Works Department were on the scene for four hours Wednesday to conduct the area clean up.
According to Rames, the area was home to vagrants living in illegally built structures with drug paraphernalia, including plastic bags used to hold marijuana and crack cocaine, littering the area.
Additionally, police found bicycle parts, baby strollers, chairs, and tents.
No one was arrested in the clean up.
While the property is privately owned, Rames said the operation to clean up the area was in response from complaints from the community. She said the owner gave permission for the clean up.
"It was blight on the downtown community," she said.
The property owner has given police the OK to arrest trespassers because no one has permission to be on the property, Rames said. Additionally, the owner told police that crews will clear the area so there is a direct line of sight from the road to the property.
The police and Public Works crews made three people sleeping in illegally-constructed tents take down the structures and cart them out to the road for pick up, Rames said.
By the time the clean up was over, Public Works crews took four dump trucks filled with debris to the landfill.
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