7 Gang Members Held in Morning Raids

Seven people in the Antelope Valley were arrested in early morning raids targeting gang members suspected of probation or parole violations, authorities said.

The surprise 5 a.m. sweep Wednesday was the first time the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department combined forces for an operation in the Antelope Valley.

The 50-person task force, led by the LAPD’s Special Enforcement Unit, searched 24 locations. Arrests were made involving possession of narcotics for sale, receiving stolen property and parole and probation violations.

“These guys are known gang members from various active San Fernando Valley gangs and this is a strategy we are using to suppress gang violence,” said Cmdr. Michel Moore of the LAPD’s Operations Valley Bureau. “We received information from our gang officers about certain gang members who were living in the Antelope Valley.”

The raids were the first in a series of joint operations being aimed at gang members committing crimes in the San Fernando Valley, Moore said.

“We want the gang members to know we are going to be working with the sheriff and whatever resources we have to reduce violence,” Moore said.

The Sheriff’s Department welcomes the joint effort, said Lt. Mike Ford of the department’s Safe Streets Bureau, which handles gang crime.

“The new [LAPD] police chief [William J. Bratton] has put a focus on gangs and they are certainly a problem in the county, too,” he said. “If we can combine forces to address that problem, it works out best for everybody involved, particularly the community.”