New Phones Sought in Bid to Curb Drug Trade

In an effort to short-circuit the drug trade’s telecommunications system, Compton officials this week launched a campaign to get pay telephones in places such as liquor stores, coin laundries and fast-food restaurants that are adjusted to block incoming calls.

Dealers, according to police, hang around the businesses and take calls from customers on pay phones. “They use the phone booth like an office,” Compton Police Cmdr. Terry Ebert said.

Compton is not the first city to target pay phones. Similar steps have been taken in Long Beach, Venice and the West Adams area of Los Angeles.

Compton officials say they will not try to take phones away from honest residents that need them. But, as Inglewood started doing last fall, Compton will contact business owners and ask them to work with phone companies to have incoming calls blocked.