In many neighborhoods, drug dealers and drug buyers have taken over the streets, forcing residents to stay in their homes. These drug markets are often violent and volatile, undermining safety and inhibiting development of local economies.

Open-air drug markets, as well as the drug enforcement activities purposed with curbing the drug trade, have exacted a heavy toll on our neighborhoods. As drug dealers exert control over public spaces, residents withdraw.

The Drug Market Intervention Initiative (DMI) strategy brings together drug dealers, their families, law enforcement and criminal justice officials, service providers and community leaders to eliminate overt community drug markets; arrests and prosecutes violent drug dealers; offers non-violent, first time drug dealers opportunities for education, job training, and other assistance; and establishes clear, predictable and meaningful consequences for those who return to dealing.

DMI is not primarily focused on changing individuals. Rather, it is about changing neighborhoods, transforming communities and advancing community and economic development efforts in cities nationwide through a partnership committed to the same goal—eliminating the open-air drug market.

For additional information, or if you would like to be involved in DMI, please contact Sergeant Mike Spicer at 352-369-7189 or 352-369-7000 or by e-mail at mspicer@ocalapd.org.