As South Jamaica goes, so goes the drug war, the thinking went.
But there is a deep sense in South Jamaica that much of the change has been superficial.
One problem is finding space for the officers to work from as they concentrate on the first designated area, a 1.1-square-mile section of South Jamaica.
She lived with her husband and their daughter in a house in South Jamaica.
A 14-year-old boy died yesterday when he was struck by a pickup truck in South Jamaica, the police said.
"The people who would replace me do not see any hope for South Jamaica."
South Jamaica is now a place in which to see and think about art, but these commissions do not set an example.
The police said he also lived in South Jamaica, but they had no immediate address for him.
"South Jamaica, except for the projects, is mostly two-family housing," he said.
Virtually all his waking hours, though, find him in South Jamaica.