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Debbie Dujanovic ReportingOne by one, Salt Lake police take them down. We go undercover as officers move in to clean up a growing area of downtown. More arrests and a new plan. Could it spell hope for area residents?
After today's sting there are four fewer drug dealers on your streets and a user facing a court appearance. Why? Salt Lake City Police officers, an Eyewitness News Investigation, and residents who came forward to say "enough".
We spent the afternoon undercover with Salt Lake police. Narcotics detectives pull up and make a deal to buy drugs. In four hours, a team of officers arrests four people for dealing, all of them taken to jail.
Officers confiscate crack cocaine, and later cite a man for trying to buy marijuana from an undercover detective.
Sgt. Ryan Atack, Salt Lake City Police Dept.: "They're not going to be able to tell the difference between one of our guys and a typical drug dealer; when they're buying drugs, it may very well be from us."
Their focus is on the growing neighborhoods around Gateway Mall in downtown. Last November, we showed you the crime, the all night-drive through drug dealing. Our camera captured early morning activity near the homeless shelter. New area residents turned to us.
Rocky Anderson, Mayor of Salt Lake City: "We've increased from the end of November to December the number of officers. We've had two officers dedicated to the area full time, 24-hours a day, seven days a week."
And the city's narcotics force is now hitting the area once a week. Look at the numbers: 41-drug arrests in the first two months of this year. They were just shy of the 46 in all of last year.
There's growing concern among officers that they make arrests and the courts let the suspects off. We dug into records and found examples from this neighborhood. One suspect was cited 46 times, another 51 times, another had 26 citations. Police ask, is this good public safety policy?
In the meantime they'll keep making arrests.
