The first Friday of the month means a Social Security check for many seniors living at Gateway Village Apartments, but it's where that money was going for a few individuals that put Capitol Heights police on alert and kept other residents locked inside their rooms.

The local police department is stepping up enforcement at the retirement community and is targeting units involved with soliciting drug dealers and prostitutes, said Capitol Heights Police Deputy Chief Anthony Ayers Sr.

"We have a few individuals that conducted in the activity themselves that are actually tenants, that are on drugs and allow the prostitutes to come into their rooms," Ayers said. "We tried to let them know that we're watching them to try and get them to slow it down."

As a former Prince George's County police officer, Ayers said he and his colleagues responded to incidents of prostitution and dealers selling drugs to Gateway residents as far back as 2009. Problems would dissipate for a while but would return without consistent police enforcement, Ayers said.

But now that Capitol Heights is his focus, Ayers is taking a holistic approach.

Ayers said he and his officers have done "knock and talks" at 47 of Gateway's 84 units since the first week of December and received information about which units were "problem units" where drug transactions were taking place. The information made it easier to find help for residents battling drug addiction and loneliness, Ayers said.

Capitol Heights police have also organized "floor captains" for each floor to report suspicious activity and look out for fellow residents. Gateway's building manager, Terrance Atchison, did not respond to voicemails for comment.

One floor captain, Delores Queen, 76, said some residents have been lax about security, throwing down access keys from their windows to people below to let them in. Sometimes people can get in anyway with a forceful yank on the handle, Queen said. Ayers said in the past individuals would leave the door propped open and the lack of security made it easier for prostitutes to enter the building and service residents.

"I wouldn't call this a really a bad building, but I would not call it a really safe building," Queen said. "What we really need is a security guard. Of course they say they don't have the funds for that."

Because of enforcement, the drug activity has migrated from the Gateway Village parking lot to hundreds of feet away at the top of the hill near Capitol Heights Elementary School, Ayers said. He said his officers will soon start patrolling that area as well.

The "knock and talks" are not just meant for police enforcement. Bringing in other agencies such as the family preservation unit of the county's Department of Social Services helps with solving deep rooted problems like drug addiction and loneliness, Ayers said.

One of the main problems is that family does not visit the residents often. Some family members have been contacted, and Ayers said if residents continue to abuse drugs they may make drug rehabilitation a requirement for them to stay in the building.

Ayers said he wants to change behavior patterns before management is forced to remove a resident from a building. Only one resident admitted to officers since December that he has a drug problem, Ayers said.

"Right now no one's going to admit they have a drug problem," Ayers said. "You go and talk to them and they deny it."

Eight-year resident Mary Barbara Anderson, another floor captain, said the police presence has quieted the extra building traffic. She will check on neighbors if she hasn't seen them for more than a day or two. But Anderson said she does not walk the halls alone without a buddy.

"Sometimes I walk inside the building, but my friend is always with me," Anderson said.

nmcgill@gazette.net