Lexington, Ky. - Summer 1995 seemed like a nightmare to Judy Maxberry. Drug dealers in her Elm Tree Lane neighborhood were selling drugs openly, oblivious to the residents’ concerns.

"They were whooping and hollering at one another and chasing cars trying to make a drug sale," recalls Maxberry, president of the neighborhood association. "There were gunshots, and a lot of us had kids or grandkids, and they were exposed to it. You could just stand in the door and see it all."

Finally, the predominantly African-American neighborhood decided to fight back. They overcame their reluctance to deal with police and the residents began calling the police to report drug transactions they had observed, and reporting license numbers of cars driven by buyers and sellers.

Soon more than a dozen crack-cocaine dealers and buyers in the neighborhood were arrested as a result of a city-wide sweep. But the victory was short-lived. Drug-dealing and prostitution in the area resumed again. Residents went to city officials. They asked for renewed police presence, improved street lighting, stronger code enforcement of burned out buildings and run-down rental property. City officials responded.

For their part city officials praise neighborhood efforts like the one in Elm Tree Lane for helping police combat drug trafficking. "It’s very heartening that they want to take control of their own neighborhood and be involved in improving it," Mayor Pam Miller said.