The Fire Inside

Lounging on a leather sofa and fiddling with a flyswatter, Milton Collins says his urgency to make a stand only increased when his son went back to jail recently for a parole violation.

"It seems that whole damn class went bad," he says of his son and his peers. "They're not bad people, but they ruin their whole lives because of little bitty stuff."

Patrols have tapered off since the launch of the operation, but police still maintain a 24-hour presence. If they pulled out, the pushers would be back in 48 hours, Jones says. Residents "are either left to the thugs' mercy or to law enforcement."

Some community members gripe about the crackdown because they get caught for small infractions like seat belt violations and expired inspection stickers. But even those who grumble seem grateful for the officers' help. Eager to keep the momentum of positive change, they are more willing than ever to feed information to the police, no matter how unsavory.

The day after officers came up empty in their search of the suspected crack dealer on Harrison Street, Deputy Keller took a call from McNair.

"We just want you to know that they're laughing at y'all 'cause the boy had the dope stuck up his rectum," the caller told him.

At last, Keller realized why they hadn't found the crack. But he was upbeat: He and his men haven't seen that young man on the streets since.