Crime sweep targets seedy site

HOLLYWOOD — A shoeless man sleeps on the sidewalk, his shirt and bag of belongings close by.

Sgt. Albert Cooper spots him in the shadows and pulls over, lights flashing.

The man sits up, scrambling for his shirt. He declines the sergeant’s offer to takehimto a shelter.

“You don’t have to go to the shelter, but you can’t stay here,” the man is told.

Cooper and his two backup officers have seen this man before.

“It’s usually the same faces, every day,” Officer Michael Wagener says before dashing off to the next call.

The next couple of hours are busy with traffic stops and Federal Highway’s more pesky problem: drunks, panhandlers and prostitutes.

Federal Highway, a haven for prostitution and drug-related crime, is again in the cross hairs of city leaders who want the area cleaned up.

Frank Fernandez, assistant city manager in charge of public safety, calls the seedy stretch of highway the “Number One” crime spot in the city. Both City Hall and residents alike are relying onHollywood’s police force to mop up the mess.

In afewweeks, Fernandezplans to roll out anewtool to fight blightonFederalHighway.

Cops like Cooper will roam their beat on bikes, helping cops in patrol cars combat crime from Federal Highway west to Dixie HighwayandPembrokeRoadnorthto Sheridan Street.

Their jobwon’t be easy, city leaderswarn, and changewon’t come overnight.

They point to a cluster of social service agencies that draw homeless people, addicts and delinquents to the area.

Motels that charge by the hour don’t help, says Commissioner Patricia Asseff.

“When we put more police out there it seems towork for awhile,” she said. “Then it comes back. And the police are out there, believeme. But it’s going to take some time.”

Commissioner Peter Hernandez blames some of the motels for making it easy for drug dealers and hookers to make a living.

“They know what’s going on and they turnablindeye,” hesaid.“We’redoingeverythingwe can. We’reworking with every tool available to fight this problem.”

Rita Gambardella, a Hollywood resident and real estate agent, says her New Image Task Force has been working for more than two years to make a dent in crime.

“Federal Highway is a gateway, and we believe it’s a very ugly gateway,” she said. “Andwewant to see change. Wewant to rid Federal Highway of the blight and the crime.”

But it’s going to take more than just making arrests, some say.

“Our challenge is they go through the system and we see them back on the street, sometimes six or seven hours later,” Cooper said. “And most of the time they refuse help.”