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SALT LAKE CITY -- For the past week, the Salt Lake City Police Department conducted what it calls "Operation Street Sweep." It's an effort to clean up street-level drug activity around Pioneer Park and The Gateway Mall. So far, police say it's been a success.
Police arrested more than 200 people in the sweep, and the majority of those were drug-related arrests. Officers say most of the arrests were not made in Pioneer Park but rather in surrounding areas of downtown.
Police credit new surveillance cameras in the park with deterring drug dealers there. In fact, officers didn't arrest anyone in Pioneer Park for narcotics.
"Every day I sent undercovers to the park, and we couldn't by one bit of dope out of these four days," said Salt Lake police Lt. Mike Ross.
Of the 200 arrests made during the four-day operation, Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank says 147 of them were for felonies and 20 involved illegal immigrants. Ten of those were people have committed serious crimes in the United States before, were deported, and are now back.
Burbank says most of the arrests happened in the Gateway area. "There are more people there", he said. "It's supply and demand."
Impact on the jail
Police say the high number of arrests definitely pose a problem at the Salt Lake County Jail. "As we start booking all these individuals, 140 individuals booked in for felonies, that's going to impact who's held in the jail," Burbank said.
Breakdown of felonies: - 85 for attempted possession of drugs
- 56 for distribution
- 6 for possession
Seized: - $3,500 in cash
- 22 grams of crack cocaine
Changing the neighborhood
Meanwhile, the aftermath of the street sweep wasn't initially a welcome sign for some living and working around the park.
"We noticed a lot more incidents and we had more problems here," says Ted Sweetland, owner of Big City Soup near 400 West and 200 South. "Our property, after we close down in the evenings, will sometimes be a collection for people hanging out."
Sweetland says things have gradually taken a turn for the better.
"The police certainly are allocating resources. We can see that they're spending a lot money and time and attention in this neighborhood," he said.
But he says there's still a ways to go before he takes his family to Pioneer Park for a picnic.
"You know, I've got young children, and I think it's still going to take some time," Sweetland said.
Do drug sweeps like this one work?
Burbank said the department is happy about the success of the so-called "sweep," but he doesn't know if it's really solving the problem. He says it's clear the drugs haven't gone away, they've just moved from the park, away from the cameras.
"We have been arresting people down in this area for a long time, and it hasn't solved the problem," Burbank said.
He also said society needs to focus on drug prevention, while enforcement needs to get these people into drug treatment facilities.
Chief Burbank said they'll do more of these high-scale operations during the summer.
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This story compiled with contributions from Nicole Gonzales , Marc Giauque and Paul McHardy.
