Dover city officials held a town hall meeting Wednesday for businesses to discuss safety, drug use and prostitution around local businesses along Route 13.
Dover Police Chief Thomas Johnson said he is working on a comprehensive plan with other city departments and local nonprofits to address law enforcement capacity.
Attendees asked several questions about how local law enforcement can address prostitution and drug use near their businesses.
Chief Johnson said lower-level offenses often are not prosecuted or encouraged to be prosecuted by upper-level law enforcement and gubernatorial candidates.
“They are not interested in police officers arresting poor people unless there's a really, really, really, really good reason,” Johnson said.
But city councilman Roy Sudler, Jr. said these issues often affect public health.
“We need someone who's going to prosecute these lower level offenses so we can clean up the capital, which represents the state of Delaware in addition to Delaware itself,” Sudler said.
Some attendees suggested a rehabilitation facility or other support systems to be created and promoted locally.
Sudler says another solution could be hiring more police officers to form task forces, but first he’d like to see the conversation be opened up to a wider audience in Dover, including people experiencing homelessness and addiction.
“Until you have everyone at the table, then the conversation is going to be one sided. So therefore the solution is going to be one sided,” Sudler said. “You're not going to get the outcome that you're looking to get, which is a collaborative, grassroots effort to resolve a social problem.”
