Operation Street Sweeper

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September 7, 2010 | 2:41 PM | By

The question of prisoners and silence

Laura Sullivan, NPR

The exercise yard at Pelican Bay's Secure Housing Unit, where inmates spend an hour and half (alone and without any materials) per day.

Last week, law enforcement swarmed the Central Valley in search of gang members who’re accused of trafficking drugs and guns through California and carrying out shootings and murders. It’s no surprise that gangs are involved in the drug trade and that the drug trade is violent. What was more striking is that the highest level leaders of these operations–the ones calling the shots–appear to be doing so from behind the walls of the Secure Housing Unit at Pelican Bay State Prison, the most secure wing of the most secure prison in the state of California–and among the most secure super-max facilities in the country.

Attorney General Jerry Brown, speaking at a press conference last week, indicated that prisoners are smuggling written, coded messages in their rectums and are also communicating by using cell phones, smuggled in by visitors and guards, to get their orders to street-level criminals.

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FILED UNDER: Corrections, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Gangs, Jerry Brown, Operation Street Sweeper, Prisons
September 2, 2010 | 12:19 AM | By

More arrests in Operation Street Sweeper

Florida Department of Corrections

State and federal law enforcement agents yesterday released the names and charges of the alleged Nuestra Familia members who were arrested during Tuesday’s statewide gang sweep. Eight more people have since been arrested, bringing the number of suspects in custody to 46, with two unnamed people still at large.

A full list of the suspects arrested as of yesterday is posted below.

A few interesting subplots have emerged from the media’s take on “Operation Street Sweeper.” Large amounts of cash, 12 weapons, and large amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine were found during the arrests. Local station ABC 7‘s headline claimed the Operation had “busted up” Nuestra Familia.

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FILED UNDER: Corrections, Courts, Police, cellphone jamming, gang sweep, Jerry Brown, Nuestra Familia, Operation Street Sweeper, Pelican Bay, Salinas, Watsonville
August 31, 2010 | 5:20 PM | By

Best of the best police operation names

marymactavish

Like this thing?

Today’s press conference held by Attorney General Jerry Brown on the mass arrests of alleged collaborators of the powerful Nuestra Familia prison gang, introduced us to a classic military-style name of the sort that law enforcement officials like to use these days: “Operation Street Sweeper.” Pretty good, right? But believe it or not, we’ve seen better. Here are some of our recent favorites. See if you can guess who they target:

Did we miss your favorite? Leave it in the comments.

FILED UNDER: Police, Jerry Brown, Operation Street Sweeper
August 31, 2010 | 4:53 PM | By

Thirty-four charged in statewide Nuestra Familia gang sweep

Ali Winston

Attorney General Jerry Brown discusses Operation Street Sweeper

A few hours ago, California Attorney General (and gubernatorial candidate) Jerry Brown announced a multi-county gang sweep aimed at Nuestra Familia, a powerful prison-based gang that controls illegal activity in state correctional facilities and, through the Norteno street gang, communities throughout Northern California.

Operation Street Sweeper is part of an ongoing crackdown on the two intertwined groups  Both Nuestra Familia and the Nortenos were the targets of two gang sweeps earlier this year, the fruits of a collaboration between local, state and federal law enforcement that began at a 2009 gang summit in Salinas.

Thirty-six gang members, including four leaders of local sets, were arrested by more than 250 federal, state, and local law enforcement agents from the Central Coast to the Central Valley, including officers from Visalia, Salinas, and Yuba City. According to Visalia Police and the Attorney General’s Office, Nuestra Familia has orchestrated a rash of violent crime in the city against rival Sureno and Asian gangs, as well as its own uncooperative soldiers: There have been 30 gang-related violent crimes this year through August, up from 30 at the same point in 2009.

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FILED UNDER: Corrections, Courts, Police, cellphone jamming, Jerry Brown, Norteno, Northern California, Nuestra Familia, Operation Street Sweeper, Pelican Bay, Salinas, Visalia