Inglewood : Grant to Fund Crime Fight

The Police Department has received a $100,000 grant from the California Office of Criminal Justice Planning to start a program to track down career criminals, such as narcotics suppliers and burglars.

The “chronic offenders unit,” which will be staffed by two veteran narcotics officers, is designed to target major criminals operating in Inglewood by using computer crime analysis data and sophisticated surveillance techniques, said Lyle Knowles, senior crime analyst. The unit will start work next month.

Inglewood received the grant because of the success of a 35-member undercover task force that made more than 1,200 drug-related arrests during a 10-week run last summer. The task force chased drug dealers and customers off Inglewood streets but did not capture many high-level suppliers, police said.

“Most of these guys have been arrested at one time or another so their files are in the system somewhere,” Knowles said. “We plan to share information with county, state and federal officials to snag repeat offenders.”