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SALT LAKE CITY — Law enforcement officials announced Tuesday that 87 arrests had been made through the first 24 hours of "Operation Rio Grande," as they pledged to keep the peace over the next two years in one of the city's most crime-ridden areas.
Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Keith Squires said 160 police officers, Utah Highway Patrol troopers and State Bureau of Investigation agents were involved in the multi-agency operation attempting to separate drug dealers and other criminals from the homeless population.
Their efforts, Squires said, had already been noticed by those who live and work in the area.
“Lots of thank-you’s — a lot of them coming up and voicing their appreciation for us going in and making the area safe,” Squires said.
Squires said no officer in the first full day of the operation had to use force during an arrest, and officers were being as sensitive as possible not to disrupt the lives of the law-abiding homeless.
Still, a large section of 500 West between 200 South and 400 South appeared vacated Tuesday morning, compared to previous weeks in which packed common areas played host to open air drug use and drug deals.
“There’s not as many stops as there were yesterday,” Sgt. Todd Royce noted as he drove through the Rio Grande neighborhood in his unmarked Utah Highway Patrol cruiser.
It was unclear Tuesday where many of the people who had occupied the Rio Grande area in recent weeks had gone, and Royce acknowledged it was possible, at least initially, that some of the problems that have plagued the neighborhood might surface elsewhere.
“We understand that the criminal element is going to scatter,” Royce said. “If the problem moves somewhere else, we’ve got a plan to move with it.”
Royce urged anybody in the broader Salt Lake City area who witnesses suspicious or unlawful activity to call police dispatch at 801-799-3000.
Officers and troopers still appeared plenty busy Tuesday, making arrests related to drugs and outstanding warrants.
“You look for all crimes, all threats, all hazards,” Royce said. “The drug dealing has to stop. That’s probably the biggest problem in the area is the drug dealing.”
Occasionally, officers were met with contempt from the homeless.
“You guys are breaking the law just as much as we are by arresting people for sitting here and minding their own business,” one man argued to a trooper. “Nobody’s busting out any drugs. Nobody’s doing nothing wrong!”
Royce acknowledged law enforcement simply couldn’t arrest its way out of the current situation. Social workers were present with a number of officers as they policed the streets.
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Operation Rio Grande underway in embattled downtown neighborhood
A massive police effort is underway in Salt Lake City's embattled Rio Grande neighborhood, the center of the state's homeless population and drug trade.After one arrest on 500 West, Royce said officers would attempt to connect a woman with the services she needed after she was released from the Salt Lake County Jail.
“It’ll allow her to clear up the warrants that she’s got and the drug use that she’s suffering,” Royce said. “Hopefully this will be a turning point in her life. That’s what we hope.”
Troopers and officers said they were determined to make the area safe again.
“This isn’t a short-term fix to the problem — this is a long-term commitment,” Royce said. “We’re just making sure and we’re hoping and we’re working hard to make this a safe environment down here.”
