Deputies conduct ‘saturation patrol’

Officials with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station nets 39 arrests or citations during 24-hour operation

More than three dozen people were arrested or issued with citations Thursday following a 24-hour no-nonsense zero-tolerance full-court blitz on crime called a “saturation patrol” operation by the local sheriff’s deputies.

If you littered, you were cited. If your stop at the lights was a rolling stop, you were cited.

The brass at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station brought in extra deputies to help “saturate” the SCV and look for nothing but crime.

“It was a special 24-hour operation,” Lt. Ignacio Somoano, in charge of the SCV Sheriff’s Station Detective Bureau said Friday.

“It meant putting extra cars on the road and dedicating more deputies to proactive policing,” he said.

“They (participating deputies) were not subject to being dispatched,” Somoano said. “They were just told to drive around and look for criminal offences.”

From 6 a.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday, deputies taking part in the 24-hour program were exempt from being dispatched to routine calls. Instead, they were told to comb the SCV and look for crime. And, they found it.

At least 39 people were arrested or cited. Drugs including methamphetamine and heroin were seized and, at least one stolen car found.

There were 11 searches carried out on probationers and one parolee search done, Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station said.

People were arrested on outstanding warrants and, in one case, one man arrested following a foot chase through Canyon Country.

“Two deputies working on the operation in Via Princessa spotted a stolen car,” Miller said. “They made contact with the driver and he fled.

“There was a foot chase over by the Stater Brothers (store),” she said.

Upon closer inspection, deputies found narcotics in the same car, she said.

“They (other deputies) found people in possessing of meth, possession of heroin. There were different narcotic arrests made,” she said.

“The deputies were instructed it was a zero-tolerance operation,” she said.

As Miller reported later on the SCV Sheriff’s Station social media the jail at the Magic Mountain Parkway station was “at full capacity.”

“This is the second time we’ve done this,” Somoano said. “We are constantly evaluating crime trends.”