Los Angeles police, DEA conducting major narcotics operation at MacArthur Park
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles Police Department, alongside Drug Enforcement Administration agents, conducted a major narcotics operation at MacArthur Park in Los Angeles Thursday afternoon.
Police say they're focusing on identifying illegal drug and criminal activity. LAPD said that this is not an immigration operation.
In less than an hour, LAPD made 13 arrests for offenses, including public drinking and other quality of life violations. Officers also recovered needles, pipes and other drug paraphernalia during the sweep. Paramedics were also called to multiple overdoses and medical emergencies inside the park.
However, LAPD says the bigger target is the network of gangs and drug dealers, they believe, have taken over the park.
"We're hoping that we continue working with our federal partners, both from the U.S. Attorney's Office and the DEA, so we can just bring the park back, clean it up, to get their resources to the city, to the park so we can return it back to the community," said LAPD Deputy Chief German Hurtado.
Some people who frequent the area told Eyewitness News that they're hoping this task force is successful in cleaning up the park. Meanwhile, small business owners in the area say they've lived in danger and fear for far too long.
"There's like zombies everywhere, there's the drug rush here where everybody is just selling drugs out of their cars," said MacArthur Park business owner Alicia Orduñez.
After two decades in the area running a family business, Orduñez says the park she once knew is now hard to recognize.
"When we were growing up, there would be families out there having picnics and it was like the standard," Orduñez said.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli stood nearby during one of the medical incidents and later told Eyewitness News: "this is just not human."
And L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman was just as blunt, saying: "I refuse to let MacArthur Park be a cemetery." He said that fire officials told him they spend more time distributing Narcan in that area than they do actually putting out fires.
This is the second of three phases of what authorities are calling "Free MacArthur Park," an effort to clean up the area ahead of the World Cup and aims to address what the DOJ described as an open-air drug market running rampant in the park, involving massive amounts of fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Thursday's operation is also a continuation of a drug raid in May that focused mainly on MacArthur Park but also included arrests in Calabasas, San Gabriel and South L.A., according to the DEA.
Law enforcement arrested 18 people in that raid, including two who they believe are the main sources of fentanyl and methamphetamine in MacArthur Park.
The 18 suspects were arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging them with a federal drug trafficking offense, the Department of Justice announced. The complaint charges 25 defendants with possession with the intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance.
So far, authorities say the overall "Free MacArthur Park" effort has resulted in the seizure of nearly 20 kilos of fentanyl. Essayli said that he believes these drugs are from the Sinaloa cartel.
Authorities say the third phase of this joint operation will aim at addressing drug use through treatment services, which leaders describe as a more compassionate approach.
Thursday's operation lasted for several more hours. Officials say this won't be a one-time sweep and DEA agents and LAPD officers will continue conducting regular operations at the park in the coming weeks and months.
