156 Student Dealers Sought in Drug Sweep

Arrest warrants for 192 alleged drug dealers--156 of them teen-age students--have been issued after the Los Angeles Police Department’s latest undercover investigation into narcotics sales in city high schools, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates announced Friday.

Eight baby-faced officers enrolled Sept. 10 at eight area high schools, Gates said--Fairfax, Fremont, Grant, Lincoln, Locke, Palisades, Sylmar and Venice. The officers made about 310 drug purchases.

Authorities began serving warrants Dec. 2 against those implicated in the investigation, which netted slightly more than $15,000 in marijuana, cocaine, hashish, LSD, PCP and amphetamines.

The Police Department has been infiltrating city high schools for 11 years and has arrested more than 3,000 students for selling drugs.

At a news conference, Gates conceded that although the undercover program has helped cut narcotics purchases on campus, it has not reduced drug use among students.

“This problem is not going to be solved until we solve the problem of demand, and we’re not going to solve that problem until we get at the kids at the earliest level,” Gates said.

Gates said he was “hopeful the political leadership of this city will see the wisdom” of providing additional funds for the Police Department’s DARE program, through which officers teach grade-school children the evils of street drugs.