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Arrests in the area declined while calls to 911 increased. Police took that as a sign that people felt confident enough to call when things went wrong. The violent crime rate citywide dropped, too, about 8 percent between 2004 and 2005, according to statistics from the State Bureau of Investigation.

Undercover informants could no longer buy crack in the West End, police said, and word about the initiative spread quickly on the streets.

In 2005, police took the program to a second neighborhood, Daniel Brooks, and invited nine drug dealers to the meeting. Every one showed up.

As the initiative took hold, crime rates dropped and Daniel Brooks residents reached out to police.

"I would like to say thank you all for the wonderful job that you all are doing around the Daniel Brooks area and beyond," a handwritten note to police reads. "I'm praying for you all."

In June, police turned to the Southside area and invited 20 people to the meeting. By then, the program was well-known: When one dealer heard that officers were searching for him, he stopped by the police station and asked for his copy of the letter, police said.

The Southside neighborhood has changed, but not as dramatically as West End.

On a recent weekday, shortly before noon, undercover officers drove the streets, citing prostitutes, many of whom had just tried to earn a quick $20 so they could score some crack. Gaggles of young men who dealt drugs have vanished from parks, though occasionally a group is still seen sitting on a porch.

Summey, the West End minister, said his neighborhood went through a similar transition.

Despite initial doubts, Southside resident Willie Mills says she can see progress. Drug dealers have vanished from her block, and prostitutes are less common.

"I guess I knew things were changing when I saw some of my neighbors the other day," Mills said. "Just for exercise, they took a little walk around the block."

The goal: Cut crime

Though the program has improved neighborhoods, the effect on dealers is less certain. One of the nine dealers who came to the West End meeting pursued the programs offered and got a job. Of the 29 who attended meetings for the second and third neighborhoods, nine contacted the program for help with jobs.

On the other hand, police say, only four of the 38 suspects who attended meetings have been arrested on drug charges.

Police say they don't think all dealers have quit the business; they just aren't doing it in the open, where it poisons neighborhoods and leads to other kinds of crime.

Although the program offers dealers a chance at redemption, the people running the program say its success can't be measured by whether drug dealers get jobs.

"This is not about drugs, it's really not," Chief Fealy said. "Our intent is to stop the violence that's associated with open-air drug markets."

In 2003, during a community meeting, West End residents told police they were scared. Three young men had broken into a home at night and, botching an attempted robbery, killed a man as he lay in bed.

A year later, after the crackdown on drug dealing, police said, the biggest complaints were about kids skipping class and smoking cigarettes behind buildings.

(News researcher Paulette Stiles contributed to this report.)

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