In 1997, I helped compile a report for the Asbury Park Homeowners Association, asking state and county officials for help confronting the city's overwhelming social and economic problems.

The section on crime opened with a quote from Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye: "I admit to a lack of success (in Asbury Park)," he said. "We have had some very bright moments but overall the criminal element has resisted like a stubborn virus."

Eight years later, in a five-part Asbury Park Press series on the city, he expressed virtually the same sentiment. Calling Asbury Park the "narcotics hub for the entire county," Kaye added, "I'd love to see the city come back, but you can't ignore the realities."

Those realities, according to the Press, include "a large, entrenched illegal drug trade", "an insufficient number of police officers," "equipment and communications deficiencies" and "a lengthy internal dispute within the Police Department."

And although the Press series ended with an editorial urging county and state elected officials and law enforcement agencies to assist the city in reclaiming its streets, the series itself stopped short of exploring what such a coalition could look like and why it had not succeeded in the past.

Some of the still unaddressed issues are:

1. Arrest Follow-up. According to the Press, the county Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) made more than 800 arrests here during the first seven months of 2004. Unfortunately, arrest counts alone can be misleading.

For example, the Press reported last month that Asbury Park police arrested an 18-year-old man for possession of a weapon, possession of hollow-point bullets, and unlawful possession of a bullet-proof vest. The most disturbing fact was missing from the story, however: Only five days before, city police had arrested the same man and sent him to the county jail -- also for possession of a weapon and hollow-point bullets. Why was he back on the streets so soon, endangering residents and police?

Similarly, how many of those 800 people that TNT arrested last year were successfully indicted and prosecuted at the county level? How many are back on the streets? What about suspects arrested by city police and referred to the county for prosecution? (Indictable violent and drug-related crimes are prosecuted at the county -- not the municipal -- level, no matter who makes the arrest.)

By contrast, all 17 federal suspects arrested in a July 27 drug raid by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency are still behind bars, far away from Asbury Park. But the state, county and local courts operate under different rules. What are those rules and how do they affect the safety of Asbury Park residents and the under-equipped officers struggling to protect us?

2. Crime Containment. In the Press series, Prosecutor Kaye noted that "it's difficult for me to stand in front of the other 52 police chiefs (in Monmouth County) and tell them I can't put resources in their town while I put resources in Asbury Park."

As a former councilwoman in a city notoriously strapped for resources, I can certainly sympathize. But, as the Press pointed out, Asbury Park's drug customers come from towns throughout Monmouth and Ocean Counties. And, as the DEA uncovered last year, narcotics and weapons are coming in from New York and the South, while the two heads of the so-called "Asbury Park Organization" ironically lived in Neptune.

No matter how big our police force gets, Asbury Park will need state, county, local and federal resources to stem the tide of drug suppliers - and drug buyers -- coming across our borders. And while I would venture to state that other Monmouth County towns have realistically had an unspoken stake in keeping drug sales localized in Asbury Park, that situation is changing.

A new city government, new business owners, new investors, and a determined population are going to keep the pressure on, and the effects are already being felt in neighboring communities. Local and federal officials report that drug dealers and their customers are shifting their operations outside the city -- including to a few locations not far from the Press's headquarters.

Redevelopment is finally happening in Asbury Park and -- just as redevelopment and economic stability made Long Branch less attractive to drug dealers -- the same will happen in Asbury Park. And neighboring towns should clamor to squelch the problem now, rather than simply relocate it, or they may soon find themselves with a set of social problems they never anticipated.

3. Interdepartmental Cooperation. In November 2003, I attended a packed N.J. League of Municipalities workshop that promised to compare the relative merits of hiring a police director versus a civil service police chief.

Following a factual report on the pros and cons of police directors, I was flabbergasted when a representative of the state Police Chiefs Association spent his entire session publicly poking fun at Asbury Park's police director for patrolling our streets in a police car and a uniform.

He even questioned why Police Director Jordan would carry a gun (the same gun Jordan's predecessor carried, by the way) -- unless he was afraid that someone was going to rob him on his way to the bank.

It's no secret that the Police Chiefs Association pushed hard to have our council appoint a civil service police chief, rather than an outside police director, when we hired Jordan in 2002. And it's also no secret that local police chiefs complained to Prosecutor Kaye and Attorney General Peter Harvey, demanding that Jordan's powers as a civilian police director be severely limited -- despite his impressive law enforcement qualifications and the council's wishes to the contrary.

In 2003, a Press editorial urged the Asbury Park City Council to fight a state court ruling that drastically limited Jordan's police powers -- and hence his effectiveness -- and urged the city to enlist state elected officials in "drafting legislation that would amend the archaic provisions of the civil service laws that prohibit experienced officers like Jordan…from functioning as a sworn officer."

The city is currently appealing the ruling against Jordan, but I've been told not to expect help from state elected officials because the powerful Police Chiefs Association controls too many votes.

Readers of this column know that I'm an avid supporter of both our city police department and Director Jordan. But I have to question how much of the inter-Departmental strife reported by the Press was exacerbated by the police chiefs' actions.

I also have to wonder why that organization would spend so much time and effort squelching a colleague who was making real strides in everything from ending the unfortunately misnamed "Greekfest" to bringing in federal agencies to successfully fight the city's drug problem -- particularly since police directors in other states not only carry guns and wear uniforms in many cases, but they and the police chiefs actually belong to the same organizations, rather than competing ones.

Changing that competitive (and self-defeating) culture is going to take far more than a court appeal by Asbury Park, and I'd love to see the Press continue to champion that cause -- and publicly ask state and county leaders the hard questions that need to be asked.