Press Releases - OcalaPD.com

Drug Market Intervention (DMI) “Taking Back Our Communities”
The Ocala Police Department announces the launching of the new Drug Market Intervention initiative in cooperation with other community entities.
The Ocala Police Department is dedicated to safeguarding life and property, deterring crime, maintaining order and improving the quality of life, not only for today, but for tomorrow, as well. With a clear understanding of the negative impact of open-air drug markets and their associated violent crime has on our community, we are reinforcing our Community Policing efforts by implementing one of the most exciting, innovative and potentially effective drug enforcement initiatives to date. This program is known as Drug Market Intervention (DMI). Rather than focusing on individual drug users and sellers, DMI focuses on shutting down drug markets by utilizing a nine-step process. DMI promises to take a new approach towards drug enforcement. Through DMI, the most serious drug dealers, particularly those with a history of violent crimes, are aggressively prosecuted. Others, who do not fall into that same category, are diverted from prosecution and connected to a variety of services, to include drug/alcohol/substance abuse treatment, education, job training and pathways to gainful employment, family counseling, transportation and ex-offender mentoring. DMI is not primarily focused on changing individuals, but rather it is about changing neighborhoods, transforming communities and advancing community and economic development efforts. The location of the first DMI is in an area referred to, by its residents, as “Second Chance”. The boundaries of this target location are as follows: W. SR 40, SW 27th Ave., NW 5th Pl. and NW Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. The DMI has scheduled three upcoming town-hall style meetings for the community in this area. The first meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at the Ocala Housing Authority Office, located at 1629 NW 4th St. in Ocala. The other two meetings will be held at the same location on Thursday, October 29, 2009 and Tuesday, November 3, 2009. For additional information on this program or to be come involved, visit www.ocalapd.com/pages/dmi, or contact Sgt. Corey Taylor at (352)369-7189 or ctaylor@ocalapd.org.
Posted on Oct 22, 2009 08:41am by ascroble (Return to Articles)

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