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WORK & MONEY by Catherine Hedgecock DROPPING IN ON DRUG DEALERS Published November 28, 1996 Other Columns by Catherine Hedgecock

If Jeff Baker knocks on your door, it's probably not a social call. If he shows up at your house, or on your street corner, it probably means you're selling drugs. And after a chat with Baker, you're likely to relocate your business or change your line of work altogether. Baker heads Simone Consulting, a unique drug mitigation firm in Oakland, California. Baker and his associates work for cities and counties to close down crack houses, clean out the heroin trade, and get addicts into treatment. It's a mammoth undertaking, and not one for the squeamish. "There is an element of danger," says Baker, a 6-foot-5 African-American who exudes both calmness and charismatic energy. "We take an enormous amount of risk. That's one of the things cities and counties pay us for." Baker's first task often is just to talk to drug dealers. He meets mom-and-pop dealers working from home and teens drumming up sales on the streets. He speaks to gang members with organized operations whose efficiency rivals fast food drive-ins. Most dealers are in poor, violent areas, and many are armed and nervous. Even so, says Baker, most are willing to talk. "I'm not the police. I'm not there to arrest them. I'm there to give them information that's vital to their business. If I know about them, everybody knows about them, including the police." Baker started the business last year, drawing upon his professional background and personal experience to do so. He grew up in Washington, D.C., then earned a political science degree at the University of California, Berkeley. He attended law school and went to work in government administration. Eventually he was hired by the city of Berkeley to respond to citizen complaints about drug dealing and drug abuse. That's where he found out how quickly drug operations can be shut down. "People are always surprised that I can resolve things in a few days when the police can't do it in several months," Baker said. He doesn't need a search warrant or probable cause. He doesn't need to refer a case to a backlogged narcotics unit. "I can get involved right away." Baker says his attitude is his best tool for negotiating with dealers. He exudes respect for people and belief in his work. That belief comes in part from his personal experience -- a family member who is now terminally ill has been a heroin addict for 30 years. "I've seen it all. I've seen ODs. I know how bad it can get." Now 44 and a divorced father of two young daughters, ages 5 and 6, Baker wants to give them a better world to grow up in. Making that kind of change requires more than shutting down drug dealers. It requires a plan based on accurate data. Simone Consulting prepares such a plan using police reports, arrest records, census data and its own surveillance. With drug dealing areas pinpointed, government agencies can set up methadone programs, drug treatment centers, counseling, and recreation centers for addicts and young people at risk. Dealing with addiction is the key to effective drug mitigation, Baker says. Addicts are the customers driving the drug trade. If one dealer disappears, another will step in immediately. Addiction takes time to overcome, but with programs available, the addicts are diverted from the dealers and from the petty theft, burglary, and robbery they commit to get drug money. Law enforcement, the main anti-drug program in most cities, can't address the addict population adequately, Baker says, so the cycle continues. "We're paying so much to lock people up. The health and human services model is cheaper and more effective than the law enforcement model. Taxpayers really begin to get their dollar's worth." Most of Simone Consulting's work has been on the West Coast, but the firm is getting wider attention. Baker is meeting with representatives from two large East Coast cities, and has a contract with a government agency in the Midwest. Spending a lot of time on the road can be draining, but Baker isn�t complaining. He's seen neighborhoods and communities blossom once their drug blight is lifted, and he wants to see more. "I'm driven because I think I have the answer. My biggest concern is that I can't be everywhere at the same time." See Simone Consulting's Web site at http://www.simone.org, or e-mail Jeff Baker at [email protected]. Catherine Hedgecock is a freelance writer and editor in Berkeley, California. She has written for USA Today, Knight Ridder newspapers, GNN, and other publications. She has won first place investigative reporting awards from California Newspaper Publishers Association, Gannett newspapers, and Best of the West. Ms. Hedgecock is currently writing a mystery novel. © 1996 Catherine Hedgecock, All Rights Reserved