Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates held a meeting several weeks ago in Waverly, where community members repeatedly brought up an issue that’s plaguing their community: drug dealers.

So Bates said he thought about what his office could do to address the problem.

Prosecutors, he said, are now asking judges in some cases to order those awaiting trial or convicted of drug dealing to stay away from certain places.

Instead of only seeking to prohibit people from going back to a specific address, assistant state’s attorneys are sometimes requesting to ban them from areas as large as one block.

“We want to do everything we can for a better quality of life for all the residents of Baltimore City,” Bates said. “It doesn’t matter what neighborhood you’re in: You should not have to be subjected to individuals standing outside your door selling drugs.”

Judges, though, have not always agreed to impose the restriction. And the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Baltimore is critical of the approach.

Prosecutors are requesting these orders in certain cases unfolding in areas notorious for drug distribution and violent crime, said Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Brady, chief of the Firearms and Drug Trafficking Unit in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office.

Most of the time, Brady said, assistant state’s attorneys will ask for judges to prohibit people from returning to a specific corner while on probation. They won’t push for an area larger than one block.

Judges, she said, have “really broad latitude” in setting conditions of probation.

Brady noted that they can prohibit parents from having unsupervised contact with minors. And judges can also bar people from driving during the term of their probation.

Police know the identities of those selling drugs in the neighborhood and can contact prosecutors if people fail to comply with a stay-away order, Brady said. Assistant state’s attorneys can then pursue a violation of probation.

“We have all the structure in place for this to work, and for it to work well,” Brady said. “We just need the judges to do their part.”

In one case on Oct. 16, Assistant State’s Attorney Alison Rajk extended a plea agreement that called for a 29-year-old man to receive a suspended sentence and three years’ supervised probation for possession with intent to distribute MDMA.

Baltimore Police were monitoring surveillance cameras on May 15 in the 3200 block of Greenmount Avenue and the 500 block of Gorsuch Avenue and watched the man carry out two drug deals.

Officers reported that they found pills, Suboxone strips and cannabis on him, as well as $576.

Rajk then requested the judge to order the man to stay away from the 3200 block of Greenmount Avenue as a condition of his probation.

His attorney, Assistant Public Defender Gabrielle Michel, objected because that restriction was “not a part of the original offer.”

“Does he live there?” Baltimore Circuit Judge LaZette C. Ringgold-Kirksey asked.

“Yes, he does,” Michel replied.

“You want him to stay away from where he lives?” Ringgold-Kirksey inquired.

But prosecutors later pointed out that the man reported in court records that his address is in Glen Burnie — almost 20 miles away.

In a statement, the Waverly Improvement Association Board of Directors said it wholeheartedly supports the state’s attorney with his promise to ask for stay-away orders for people outside the neighborhood who are arrested for drug activity.

“We believe it is essential in returning safety and quality of life to Waverly,” the statement continued. “Since it avoids unnecessary incarceration, it really is a no-brainer.”

The board said it is “extremely frustrated” with judges who have denied these requests. Members added they “strongly believe that this initiative could have a positive impact in neighborhoods all over the city which are in similar situations.”

People might have legitimate reasons to return to certain blocks including to visit family members, said Brian Shefferman, president of the Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys’ Association.

Shefferman said it’s up to defense attorneys to raise issues and object.

“There’s some burden on the prosecution to explain why specifically the person shouldn’t be at a specific location,” Shefferman said. “Just so much depends on the facts.”

But Shefferman questioned the deterrent value. Can’t people just go to a different block to sell drugs?

A standard condition of probation is also to obey all laws.

Baltimore District Public Defender Marguerite Lanaux slammed the tactic as a “short-sighted, one dimension approach to a far larger issue.”

“You have to actually resolve the root cause of those problems,” Lanaux said. “It’s never going to be you wave a magic wand and everything goes away.”

Lanaux said her assistant public defenders will never agree to these restrictions. She said she would challenge the legality of the condition.

But Bates countered that the provision is a “commonsense fix” and “another tool in the toolbox to use for accountability.”

Probation agents, he said, are supposed to help their clients with tasks including obtaining employment. The mayor’s office and nonprofit organizations also offer resources, Bates said.

“My job isn’t to deal with the root causes,” Bates said. “My job is public safety.”

Bates said there are “a thousand blocks in Baltimore City you can go to: Just this one here, you can’t come back to while you’re on probation.”

Prosecutors, he said, are trying to give community members a break.