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Sarasota News Leader January 3, 2014 Sarasota police are quietly beginning to utilize the "High Point strategy" to take violent offenders off the streets with the help of community residents. Several sources have confirmed the action, named after a North Carolina city that used it to cut crime significantly. City police officers are using parole violations, drug sales and other charges to move offenders to prison, and local judges are setting high bails to keep them from returning to the streets. The strategy calls for the offenders to receive stiff sentences as an incentive to urge lower-tier criminals to go straight. The anti-crime offensive began earlier this month. "They grabbed 20, and the bonds were amazing," said one source knowledgeable about jail activity. "Nobody made bond." Police are now identifying "second-tier" offenders, who will be offered a second chance to become productive members of the community, or they will face the fate of those in the "first tier." Through the Police Department's use of "deferred prosecution," home visits and "letters of intent," the second-tier violators are being given the opportunity to change their ways at a distance from the criminal justice system. Sarasota Police officers are Page 67 calling the operation DMI — drug market intervention, and they are focusing on the Newtown area. Sixty days: That is the time frame within which the City of North Port hopes to have responses to an advertisement seeking a shortterm manager for Warm Mineral Springs. A special meeting of the North Port City Commission probably will be necessary in August to approve an agreement, City Manager Jonathan Lewis tells his board during its regular meeting on June 24. That is because after its last regular session in July, the City Commission is not scheduled to meet again until September. According to the terms of a new interlocal agreement between the city and the county, the Sarasota County Commission will have 30 days to vote on the North Port board's action regarding shortterm management. Lewis' comments come just before the North Port Commission votes unanimously to approve that interlocal agreement with Sarasota County regarding the future of the 81-acre resort the two local governments purchased jointly in 2010 for $5.5 million. % FREE SUBSCRIPTION Don't have your own subscription to The Sarasota News Leader? Subscribe for FREE and receive a weekly notification when the latest issue is available online.