CRACKDOWN! DRUG STING NETS 16 BUYERS, 10 CARS OPERATION FIRST OF ITS KIND TO TAKE SUSPECTS' VEHICLES.Byline: Jason Kandel Staff Writer NORTH HILLS - In an unprecedented crackdown on drug dealing on San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. streets, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. police staged a sting operation Noun 1. sting operation - a complicated confidence game planned and executed with great care (especially an operation implemented by undercover agents to apprehend criminals) Wednesday under a new law that allows confiscation confiscation In law, the act of seizing property without compensation and submitting it to the public treasury. Illegal items such as narcotics or firearms, or profits from the sale of illegal items, may be confiscated by the police. Additionally, government action (e.g. of vehicles of people caught trying to buy drugs. During the four-hour operation, officers from both the Devonshire and West Valley divisions seized 10 vehicles and arrested 16 people along Gresham Street Gresham Street, in the City of London, is named after Thomas Gresham and runs from St. Martin's Le Grand near St Paul's Cathedral in the west, past Guildhall, to Lothbury in the east. and Columbus Avenue by posing as drug dealers selling rock cocaine. ``The message today is - if you drive down here looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. dope, you'll lose your freedom and lose your vehicle,'' said Capt. Joe Curreri, who heads the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire Division. Last October, Mayor James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California signed into law measures that allow police to seize the cars of people who buy or sell drugs. The city already has laws allowing police to seize the cars of street racers and customers of prostitutes. The measure is part of an overall effort to rid the city of street crime. On Wednesday, five undercover officers wearing jeans and loose-fitting shirts and baseball caps posed as street dealers, using macadamia macadamia (măk'ədā`mēə), name for the nut of the Macadamia ternifolia, an evergreen tree native to Australia, but cultivated in Hawaii. The nuts, also called Queensland nuts, are eaten roasted or raw. nuts cut to look like authentic rock cocaine. The undercover team was backed up by 20 other officers, some circling through the neighborhood in black and white patrol cars and unmarked cars. This is the first time the seizures were used in narcotics narcotics n. 1) techinically, drugs which dull the senses. 2) a popular generic term for drugs which cannot be legally possessed, sold, or transported except for medicinal uses for which a physician or dentist's prescription is required. operations in the city. Similar busts have been used in prostitution stings in Hollywood since the city adopted the law in 2002, and modeled after a similar measure in Oakland, dubbed Beat Feet. ``This is one tool that the police and the city attorney can use to help eradicate drug sales in our communities,'' said Los Angeles City Attorney's Office spokesman Eric Moses. ``If these tools can help push the demand down, then we certainly hope the supply will go down and the law-abiding residents of North Hills and other areas where this drug dealing goes on will be empowered and get their communities back.'' Detective Rob Holcomb, who headed the operation, was optimistic the sting would make an impact on the heavy volume of traffic going in and out of the neighborhood where children play in the streets and families gather in front yards. ``It will be a deterrent in that regard,'' he said. ``But this won't end it. This is our way of hammering at the buyers.'' Police had the suspects' vehicles towed to an impound impound v. 1) to collect funds, in addition to installment payments, from a person who owes a debt secured by property, and place them in a special account to pay property taxes and insurance when due. yard, and will eventually sell them at auction unless the owner comes forward within 10 days to appeal the seizure. A judge determines whether the vehicles were used to facilitate a narcotics transaction. The transactions are taped, both video and audio, by undercover officers who are wired with bugging devices. A camera from an unmarked van records the scene. Steady streams of narcotics buyers regularly drive through Memory Park Avenue and Gresham Street, long known as a drug haven. Like a large advertisement, someone has scrawled ``Crack Sold Here'' in blue spray paint on Gresham. The officers made their first arrest within 15 minutes. A man driving a champagne-color Hyundai Elantra The Hyundai Elantra (sold in South Korea as the Avante) is a compact car from Hyundai of South Korea launched in 1991. The Elantra was formerly sold as the Lantra and the Avante in some Australian and European markets. had been cruising through the neighborhood and stopped to buy $60 worth of rock cocaine from undercover officers. Police pulled him over and arrested him a block away. The car was seized and he was booked on attempted possession. A short time later, a 52-year-old woman in a rusted Lincoln Continental drove through the neighborhood when she also attempted to buy narcotics. As she stood on a sidewalk in handcuffs hand·cuff n. A restraining device consisting of a pair of strong, connected hoops that can be tightened and locked about the wrists and used on one or both arms of a prisoner in custody; a manacle. Often used in the plural. tr.v. , she told police she started using rock cocaine in the past few weeks out of curiosity. She was supposed to be baby-sitting a toddler whom she left in the custody of her brother, when she was caught trying to buy drugs. ``What's going to happen to my car?'' she said. ``It's going where you're going,'' said Holcomb. At a makeshift jail in a Mexican restaurant parking lot nearby, Lt. Tim Moss, who heads the Devonshire anti-gang unit, began booking the suspects. ``Most of them are complaining, Why are you chasing us? Why are you not chasing the dealers? I tell them, If you weren't buying out there, there would be no dealers out there. That gets them thinking.'' Moss said he believes that seizing vehicles will send a strong message to buyers. ``They'll remember losing their car more than they'll remember being on probation. When you put a financial loss on them and the people who are loaning them the car it is more of a financial hardship. They're going to remember this. They're not going to drive through the neighborhood here.'' Jason Kandel, (818) 713-3664 jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1 -- color) A suspect is taken into custody by LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. officers, and his vehicle confiscated con·fis·cate tr.v. con·fis·cat·ed, con·fis·cat·ing, con·fis·cates 1. To seize (private property) for the public treasury. 2. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate. adj. , during a drug sting in North Hills. (2 -- color) Graffiti on a utility box on Gresham Street provides an indication to the drug problem in the North Hills neighborhood. (3 -- 4) A suspect's car is impounded by LAPD narcotics officers, far left, while at left officers display macadamia nuts that were used in place of rock cocaine during Wednesday's sting in North Hills. Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer |
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