Criminals are afraid to arm themselves in a Virginia city that simply enforced the law
BY ELAINE SHANNON/RICHMOND

Not long ago, Edward sold crack cocaine for a living. He considered himself a businessman and made businesslike calculations of risk and reward. He was afraid rival dealers might try to rob him of his drugs or the wad of cash in his wallet. So he carried a 9-mm handgun. “Everybody had a gun,” he says, “for defense.” But now he has a bigger fear: if he gets caught with a weapon while committing a crime in his hometown of Richmond, Va., he faces at least five years without parole in a distant federal prison. That’s why Edward, 25, doesn’t pack a pistol anymore.

It’s a calculation many criminals and would-be criminals are making these days in Richmond and other cities that have emulated Project Exile, the Virginia capital’s innovative program to combat gun crime. It is credited with helping cut in half the number of murders in Richmond over the past two years.

Gun-control groups point to Project Exile as evidence that Congress–which last week postponed action again on modest new gun regulations–is out of step with states and cities that are moving aggressively against gun crime. But the National Rifle Association endorses Project Exile for another reason, saying it proves that vigorous enforcement of existing laws can thwart criminals without new controls on law-abiding gun owners.

Two years ago, Richmond’s homicide rate was second only to that of Gary, Ind. Gun toting had become pervasive in the city’s poorer neighborhoods. Says James Comey, criminal-division chief in the local U.S. Attorney’s office: “People carried guns because gun-possession crimes were not treated as anything more than a misdemeanor. What might have been a fistfight or stabbing 20 years ago was a shootout because everybody had a gun in his pocket.”

In response, Comey and his boss, U.S. Attorney Helen Fahey, launched Project Exile in partnership with Richmond police chief Jerry Oliver and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The new procedure: anytime Richmond police found a gun on a drug dealer, user, convicted felon or suspect in a violent crime, the case would be tried under federal statutes that carry mandatory sentences of at least five years without parole–and longer for repeated or aggravated offenses.

To spread the word in high-crime neighborhoods, the slogan an illegal gun gets you 5 years in federal prison was emblazoned on billboards, flyers and city buses. The Martin Agency, an advertising firm based in Richmond, designed a slick TV campaign aimed at changing the psychology of the underworld. “It was niche marketing to the bad guys,” says Oliver. “They all know the name Exile. We hit on a label that explains what it does, which is get them out of the community.”

It worked. Murders in Richmond dropped sharply, from 140 in 1997 to 94 in 1998 and 32 in the first six months of 1999. Armed robberies showed a similar decline. As of June 18, the Exile task force had won long prison sentences for 279 gun-carrying criminals. Says Fahey: “We’ve taken them off the streets.”

The Richmond initiative is being adopted in Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; Fort Worth, Texas; New Orleans; Norfolk, Va.; Philadelphia; Rochester, N.Y.; and San Francisco. President Clinton has touted Exile in a radio address. And the N.R.A., which donated more than $100,000 to Richmond’s Project Exile ad campaign, is urging Washington to spend $50 million to apply the concept nationwide.

In Richmond today, young toughs still deal and steal because they’re not afraid of a stint in the local jail. Most, however, are leaving their guns at home. When Sergeant Steve Ownby recently frisked a suspected robber, the perp shot him a don’t-think-I’m-stupid look and said scornfully, “Hell, no, I don’t have no gun. Project Exile’ll get you five years. I’ll be an old man when I get out.” Ownby observed later that “I’ve seen a lot of programs come and go, but Exile has made a difference.”

Edward, the former pistol packer, agrees: “All my friends started going away to prison [on multiple drug and gun charges].” One got 16 years, another 20. “And then I had a son. He’s three. That’s why I straightened up. I couldn’t leave him.” Edward says he drifted into crime because his dad wasn’t around, and he doesn’t want that to happen to his boy. Police confirm that Edward has not only laid down his arms but has also stopped dealing drugs and taken a construction job. He often works overtime late at night, and that has helped make him an Exile booster: “It’s made the neighborhood a lot safer.”

What They’re Doing
–FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL law-enforcement agencies work closely together in Project Exile

–GUN CRIMINALS, even when arrested by city police, are prosecuted under federal laws that carry mandatory five-year sentences

–A CREATIVE ADVERTISING agency, taking up a novel challenge, has been able to market fear to local criminals

COPYRIGHT ? 2000 TIME INC.