DRUG HOUSES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
I would like to address three questions that I am often asked by citizens on the phone or at a neighborhood association meeting regarding possible drug houses in their respective neighborhood:
How do I know whether a drug house is active in my neighborhood?
Drug House Danger Signs
Increased short-term auto and pedestrian visits at unusual times during the day and night to a particular house or apartment.
Increase in litter such as used syringes, plastic bag, glass pipes, bottles, trash, stacks of used matches, and graffiti.
Increase in crimes like auto burglaries, home burglaries, robbery, vandalism, and assault.
Increase in noise such as loud voices, parties, fights, gunfire, and loud radios especially at night.
Active prostitution in or around the neighborhood.
Residences with blacked out windows.
Unusual, strong odors (like cat urine, ether, ammonia, acetone or other chemicals)
What kind of information would the Wichita Police Department like about a drug house in my neighborhood?
Drug sellers: (specific description) Name, race, sex, age, height and weight, hair, build and complexion, dress, scars, marks, or tattoos, and distinct features (limp, piercings, beard etc.).
Drug seller/Drug supplier’s car: (detailed description of seller’s/ supplier’s car only) color, make, model, license tag number, and 2 or 4 door.
Address: (complete address) number and street, apartment, upper, lower, or side-by-side.
Building or House: (general description) color, constructed of (siding, brick, etc.), type of building (apartment, house, duplex, business, garage, etc.).
Windows: (something out of the ordinary) used as a lookout or blacked out (sheets, paper, foil, etc.)
Drug buyers: (general characteristics as a whole) Age range, races (white, black, hispanic, asian, mixed, or other), dress, and male or female.
Types of drugs: (IF POSSIBLE, kind of drugs that are sold at the house) marijuana, crack, cocaine, methamphetamine, etc.
Times of activity: (heaviest times that drug buyers visit) times of the day, day of the week, vehicle color, make, model, and license tag number.
Vehicles or walk-ups: (where do drug buyers park their vehicles or where do walkers come from) park (in front, down the street, alley, etc.) walk (cut through backyard, alley, etc.)
Weapons
Pictures/ Videos
How do we get rid of a drug house?
Contacting SCAT (Special Community Action Team)
The Wichita Police Department recognizes that we cannot win the war against gangs and drugs alone. Gangs and drugs affect all of us and often destroy our community and families. We need your help, DO NOT look the other way and say it's not my problem. We need the community to get involved to be our extra eyes and ears. Get involved!
Please report drug and gang activity in your neighborhood to the Special Community Action Team (SCAT). SCAT is the enforcement arm of community policing, which primarily specializes, in street level drug and gang activity.
Any information received by you will be kept confidential and you will be doing your community a service. YOU can make a difference by calling the Patrol West Bureau S.C.A.T Team at 337-9400 or 267-SCAT.
Organizing Neighborhood Watch
Block by block community mobilization is the most powerful weapon in the war on drugs. A neighborhood watch is the fastest, safest, and most effective way to rid your neighborhood of a drug house and prevent it from coming back. Why? Your neighbors and you coming together gives you power and power gives you results to take back your neighborhood block. For information on starting a neighborhood watch you can call me at (316) 337-9400 or email me at rbaker@wichita.gov.