209 Arrested in Drug Sweep of Valley’s Trouble Spots

Los Angeles police announced Monday that 209 people were arrested in the San Fernando Valley during a three-day citywide drug crackdown. Nearly half those arrested in the Valley were from the Bryant-Vanalden area of Northridge, police said.

The crackdown, which led to 709 arrests throughout Los Angeles, was staged from Thursday morning to midnight Saturday and concentrated primarily on street drug trade at selected locations throughout the city, Sgt. Mike Celmer said.

In the Valley, about 80 officers aimed their efforts at areas where drugs are openly sold, such as the Bryant Street-Vanalden Avenue area, Blythe Street in Van Nuys and the area around Orion Avenue in Sepulveda, Lt. Martin Pomeroy said.

Mayor Opposed Plan

Earlier this year, the Bryant-Vanalden area was the target of a proposal by City Councilman Hal Bernson to make it easier to evict tenants, most of them low-income Latinos, so that the existing apartments in the area could be replaced by a gated, middle-class community. But Mayor Tom Bradley opposed the plan, apparently dooming it.

Bernson said his plan was prompted in part by complaints from residents about crime in the neighborhood. Last month, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates ordered the formation of a police task force to patrol the area.

Police said most of the 91 arrests there involved heroin.

In one incident Friday, police arrested a woman who was “shooting” heroin as her 2-month-old daughter watched, Pomeroy said. The child was taken into protective custody and turned over to probation officials, he said.

Raul Morales, president of Padres Unidos, a community group that has met with police to urge more patrols in the Bryant-Vanalden area, said residents were pleased with the number of arrests.

‘Exactly What We Want’

“This is exactly what we want,” Morales said. “We have a lot of drug addicts and sellers around here and, if they get busted, that’s great. We knew this was coming, and we were very pleased with the operation.”

Morales said members of his group, who live in the Bryant-Vanalden apartments, will meet with police again today to discuss other steps to reduce crime in the area.

Gates said at a press conference Monday that the crackdown was not aimed at “major dealers” of drugs, and was part of a continuing effort to respond to community leaders’ complaints about street drug activity. A similar crackdown in May and June resulted in 780 arrests around the city, Gates said.

In the latest sweep, police confiscated $45,000 in cash, 19 guns, and small amounts of heroin, cocaine, PCP and marijuana, Gates said.

Other areas of Los Angeles where police made many arrests included the 8200 block of Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, the 13000 block of Venice Boulevard in Venice, and the 5100 block of Washington Boulevard in Los Angeles, Gates said.