alleged drugs dealers using high tech crime detection techniques, reporter Antoine Raynor visited some of the areas where drug dealing was alleged to be taking place and talked to many residents. He found people's reactions ran the gamut from outright anger to wholehearted support.

Broome Street at 11.30 a.m. on Friday, June 27 was virtually empty.

"Look down there,'' a 61-year-old resident instructed, pointing towards a spot where, he said, before "Operation Cleansweep'' young men sold drugs in broad daylight.

"They would be down there at all times of the day and night rolling their stuff like bums. You couldn't get any rest from them,'' the elderly resident, who was too afraid to give his name, said, adding that neighbours were prisoners of fear.

"Cleansweep was needed and long overdue.'' A young man painting his house nearby overheard the conversation and offered his opinion.

Ian S. Smith, 22, said he did not fear any of the guys on the corner because he grew up with most of them. He also said while he agreed the cleaning up of the street was needed, he was bothered by the sentences and tactics of the Police.

"The law should stand for everyone,'' Mr. Smith said. "An American can import drugs into the country, get a fine and still travel here. A Bermudian gets caught with two bags of weed and gets two years in prison. They say they want to send a message? Is the message that there are different laws for different people?'' Smith also said he felt that if the laws were truly equal young people would tend to have more respect for the law.

"Otherwise,'' he asked, "how is the system working for me?'' Bermudians clearly have mixed feelings about Operation Cleansweep, according to interviews conducted across the Island, including the infamous "million dollar'' drug spots that were swept clean three weeks ago -- Broome Street in Somerset, Horseshoe Road in Southampton, Middle Road, Warwick, and Ord Road in Paget/Warwick.

And while some interviewed asked that they only be identified by their middle names, others spoke openly about the impact of the drug sting.

Two ladies sitting on their porch "enjoying the sunny day'' smiled when asked about Cleansweep.

Irene Simons, 39, of Broome Street, said: "It's a good thing. The streets are quiet now.'' Mrs. Simons said before Cleansweep, dealers would sit on the corner of her gate and sell drugs.

"It was terrible,'' she said. "Now you don't have that fear when you get off the bus and walk up the street. But the hard thing is these are children your children grew up with and went to school with.'' Just down the street a middle-aged woman was standing in her front yard. When asked about Cleansweep she suddenly got very emotional.

"You don't want to hear what I think about Cleansweep, honest,'' she said as she walked off into her house.

A few moments later a calmer version of the same lady revealed why the subject of Cleansweep had her so upset.

"My son is one of them in remand,'' said Sandra, referring to the 29 people charged with various drug offences as result of the Operation.

"He can't get bail, but when he was arrested he didn't have any drugs. He was caught on tape with money in his hand. Yet those people caught with 30 pounds not only got bail, their trial is yet to come up.'' The distressed mother made it clear that she did not condone drug trafficking, but she wanted her son and the other accused to be treated fairly, which she said was not happening.

"You're telling me just because they were picked up in Cleansweep they should get more time than they would if they were arrested some other time?'' she asked.

"When you do wrong you have to suffer the consequences, but the consequences should be the same for everyone.'' Shortly after noon, two young men sitting on the wall of their house across the street from Southampton Rangers' field shook their heads and frowned when asked if they felt the cameras used in Operation Cleansweep were an invasion of privacy.

Allan, 24, said: "Yes these cameras have the potential of seeing everything, not just the drug dealers. A guy could be cheating on his wife. That's wrong I suppose, but it's not a crime and it's nobody's business but his own.'' Vincent Trott, 25, said he did not care about the cameras. His concern was the whole operation in general which he said was "misguided''.

"If you visibly get drug dealers off the street you pacify the people into believing something is being done,'' he said. "That drugs are on the way out, this is c***. You can't get rid of drugs because the demand is too great.

"I read in the paper where one of the Cleansweep officers said there is no such thing as the big drug dealer. He said the guys on the street were the ones making all the money,'' he recalled. "They should call it Operation Smokescreen. Show me where these guys are making $20,000 a day. That's a lie.

These street dealers are just workers.'' On Middle Road, Warwick, 30-year-old store owner Pete said he did not know how long the tranquillity would last, but he liked what he had seen so far.

"It was very efficient at the street level,'' he said. "And the environment has improved.'' Store clerk Shannon Eddie Dowling agreed Operation Cleansweep had been "a good thing''.

The 24-year-old explained that before Cleansweep he feared young children who passed the drug dealers daily would start to think dealing was the "hip'' thing to do.

"I have a younger brother and I hope this has opened his eyes. But right now they (Police) are just dealing with chump change.'' Mr. Dowling added that store sales had shown an increase since the streets were clear.

Several feet from Lines Grocery store on Ord Road -- where there used to be so many young men on either side of the road that drivers had to honk their horns to get by -- the street was barren.

Just one dreadlocked man, who had lived on Ord Road all his life, was sitting on the curb near where the crowd of men normally hung out.

"Tell you the truth, Ord Road got out of hand,'' Derrick, 27, confessed. "I don't wish none of my brethren in jail. But they had no respect. I know exactly what the neighbours are talking about. Blasting radios all times of the night, I saw it coming. Anyone who wants to complain about Cleansweep only has themselves to blame. Too much jealousy. When black men don't stick together that is when the man (Police) move in and do what they are doing now.'' Derrick added that he did not like the fact he could not "sit off'' at Ord Road anymore because the perception was that anyone on the streets was involved in drugs.

But he said: "I'm not running anywhere. I grew up here.'' Lines owner Richard Powell, whose life has been threatened numerous times, beamed with pride usually reserved for fathers of newborns when asked about "Cleansweep''.

"Just take a look outside,'' he said smiling. "Before Cleansweep it was totally open drug dealing. They owned the street and if anyone said anything to them they would curse and threaten them.'' Mr. Powell said while there had been no drastic increase in business at the store, he had seen new faces and customers who had not been in the store for a longtime.

"Two years ago we changed the store around. The shelves used to face the other direction,'' he explained. "We've had people come in here in the last couple of weeks and say `you changed the store around' -- that goes to show they haven't been in here for two years.'' Mr. Powell said residents felt intimidated by the dealers hung out near the store.

He said an older Ord Road resident recently walked to the store with his three-year-old grandson.

"I commented on the fact he had walked up the street instead of driving,'' Mr. Powell said. "As he was leaving his grandson said to him, `Poppa, I can come with you because I can walk up the street now'.

"Now, when a three-year-old knows it's safe to walk up the street, you know there has been a change for the better.'' EMPTY STREETS -- Broome Street in Somerset, where drug dealers allegedly plied their trade before Operation Cleansweep, is now empty.