BRATTLEBORO — Those at the epicenter of the problems of drugs and violence in Brattleboro are sometimes left voiceless. At the street level, the town can seem very different from the one talked about in town meetings or promoted in local marketing efforts.
The street level is largely hidden from many residents, yet immediately visible to others who witness it every day.
At this level, problems of dislocation, addiction, and crime are tangled in ways that those who provide services in town know well but that may come as new information to others.
The relationship between dealers and people who are dislocated or have substance abuse disorders is complicated at best and sometimes deeply exploitive at worst.
Many sources emphasize that people whose housing is insecure and who might be struggling with problems of addiction are the most vulnerable to crime in town.
The individuals within this population are also among the most targeted by the drug dealers. Police Chief Michael Fitzgerald described in detail the ways in which dealers at the Brattleboro end of the distribution networks from southern cities prey on vulnerable residents in order to set up drug houses and run their product.
“Thomas” - not his real name, for reasons of privacy - is a part of the homeless community and has lived in Brattleboro for several years after coming here from another part of Vermont. He had come for alcohol-addiction rehab, and said that he decided to stay in town after he was released from his program.
He says that his life started to spiral out of control when he started drinking again.
Thomas said that sometimes people who have their apartments moved in on the way Chief Fitzgerald described [see main story] may become homeless because of their drug debts. He named one individual who lost her apartment in that way but who then was able to find another place - also a drug house.
“It works the other way sometimes, because that individual is homeless,” he said. “Dealers will offer a homeless person food, shelter, money, and sometimes sex, in exchange for that person going out and selling their product.”
Some of the individuals in the homeless population are also runners, though that occupation is not common.
Most homeless individuals do not sell drugs, but the term “dealing” covers a range of activity. According to Thomas, all in the homeless population are dealers in their own respective way.
“Every one of us is supporting our own needs,” said Thomas, pointing out that it is a way of life within this population.
Thomas explained that when we use the term “dealers” in this context describing those who are unhoused, it does not necessarily mean that they are dealing drugs. Sometimes individuals will steal items from stores or from individuals and sell these stolen goods to others in the displaced community.
Their underground economic activity might include selling or trading the items to meet their needs at the time. The items may sometimes include drugs. It is not unusual that this form of commerce is due to owing a debt.
According to Thomas, violence and crime within the street-level community are common.
He said that if a dealer notices that a homeless person is making money, that person may then be targeted. If money is owed, Thomas said, then debts are collected.
“They will get you,” he said. Scores are settled through a combination of physical violence and intimidation.
Sometimes individuals are sent to collect the debts from the targeted individual and other times, it may be the dealer who makes contact directly. It all depends on how powerful the dealer is as measured by his status.
Most crimes within the homeless population are not reported, Thomas said. He explained that the drug connection is often a major factor.
A community of peers
One thing that can be hard for people to see if they only occasionally visit downtown is that the street community is a community, problematic as that concept might be. People know one another. They share, they trade, they sell, and sometimes they steal.
For about a year, people would gather on Flat Street at “The Wall.” At the request of the property owner, the police department closed it down a few months ago.
Thomas described the hardship that the closing of the wall placed upon his community of peers.
“At least we were all together in one place and felt safe,” he said. “The Wall felt like a haven.”
Another resident who has talked to various individuals in the community about this issue said that the Wall was the only self-governed spot for the homeless community. Since the closing, they are now scattered throughout town.
Asked about what Brattleboro could do better, Thomas talked about having more shelters and also the challenges with finding safe places to stay after the overflow shelter closes in April.
They are given tents for camp sites, but Thomas describes this as a downgrade that sends people into the community to find places to sleep, often in hidden areas.
“They have the soup kitchens, we know about all of the soup kitchens,” he said, “but we need places where we can be during the day. Day shelters.”
During the interview, which took place in a small apartment on Elliot Street, Thomas talked with a reporter about the many conversations in town about how to build or maintain a better town.
Thomas's contribution: “It's like they want to better the community,” he said, “but they don't want the people in the community to get better.”