STERLING – Police are stepping up their efforts to crack down on drug sales in the city, one door at a time.

Since May, officers have conducted “knocks and talks,” in which they knock on the doors of suspected drug houses and ask the occupants’ permission to search the home.

If they say no, officers give them a letter informing them that they are on the department’s “radar,” Detective Sgt. Steve Hubbard said. “We want people suspected of criminal activity to know that we’re going to try and reach out and touch them.”