Downtown S.B. Sweep for Quality of Life Crimes Continues

June 25th, 2008 by TOM MOOR Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- South Bend police swept the downtown area Tuesday afternoon for the second time in as many weeks, looking for drunks hanging around intersections, parks and walkways.

Officers arrested nine people on charges of public intoxication or for outside warrants, focusing primarily on intersections just south of downtown, Howard Park and the East Race Waterway -- areas known to attract drunks. Police also arrested nine last week during an afternoon sweep.

"We plan on doing this all summerlong," said Capt. Phil Trent, a South Bend police spokesman. "Once we determined we had an issue here, we decided to continue with the sweeps." The first round-up last week was fueled by complaints from the public, police say.

"We've had reports of people so profoundly intoxicated they've been passed out and almost unresponsive on park benches," Trent said last week.

Trent could not say how bad the problem is in South Bend compared to other cities, adding: "It's at a level where our citizens asked for some action to be taken on it."

Five of the arrests on Tuesday were made at Bronson and Michigan streets, just south of downtown, an area familiar to police as a place for people to drink. The sweep was confined to an area north to Riverside Drive, south to Sample Street, east to St. Louis Boulevard and west to Lafayette Boulevard. Those arrested were taken to the St. Joseph County Jail.

An arrest sweep last week netted eleven arrests for crimes such as Public Intoxication and warrant arrests.