The DeKalb Police Department’s Targeted Response Unit’s focus on street crimes is helping the department pursue Chief Gene Lowery’s 20/20 initiatives for DeKalb.

Sgt. Steve Lekkas, head of the unit, said the idea for the unit came about a year ago, but it has only been fully operational for about a month. Lekkas said the unit took so long to come together because the department had to decide on which staff to include.

Lekkas said the unit, compromised of four DeKalb police officers who have had more experience than others in the fields of drugs and gangs, is a proactive investigative tool for the DeKalb Police Department, and the unit spends time investigating ongoing problems which cause a nuisance to the community.

“A lot of what we do is follow up on citizen complaints,” Lekkas said. “We focus our investigative efforts to find out what is really the problem.”

For example, if the department receives complaints of constant traffic at a location, the unit will follow up and keep watch over this location in order to determine if it is a drug house, Lekkas said. If it is, the unit will arrest the people involved and interview them. These interviews lead the unit to users and others involved, who can then be helped through rehabilitation services.

The unit’s supervisor, John Petragallo, said this unit is able to dedicate more time to investigating ongoing problems instead of responding to everyday calls, like regular patrol officers do on a daily basis.

“This unit is investigative and thorough, but solely dedicated to investigating these crimes,” Petragallo said. “They sit back and look at long-term cases that wouldn’t be done on patrol’s end.”

Petragallo said the proactivity of the unit allows officers to develop intelligence and build the case, get to know the offenders and make arrests. He said as opposed to reactive units, this unit takes time to build a case before making any arrests. Petragallo said these arrests should serve as a warning for other criminals.

“Word circulates through the criminal element,” Petragallo said. “It causes these criminals to look over their shoulder more and hopefully stop or take their crime somewhere else.”

Lekkas said there have been two major successes so far. First, the unit executed a warrant sweep and issued 22 warrants for known criminals in DeKalb, 15 of them for drugs. The case was investigated for two to three months before executing the sweep, and some NIU officers assisted in the sweep.

The second major success for the new unit was a 22-kilo cocaine seizure at the DeKalb Municipal Airport this month. Petragallo said the unit received a tip of suspicious flight circumstances from airport staff and took action immediately. Two were arrested.

The unit is just one of 20 initiatives in the 20/20 initiative. The DeKalb Police Department was also issued an excellence award this month from the DeKalb County Partnership for a Substance-Abuse Free Environment. Capri Smith, prevention and community education services program manager at the Ben Gordon Center for community mental health, presented the award to Lowery earlier this month.

Smith said the 20/20 initiative was one major reason the DeKalb Police Department received this year’s excellence award.

“Our center came up with the award to recognize individuals or agencies in their effort toward prevention of drug abuse,” Smith said. “Because the 20/20 initiative is a lot of alcohol and drug abuse prevention, we unanimously decided to give the award to the DeKalb Police Department.”