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San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office ramps up drug, gang enforcement

August 9, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office is reporting significant results in the first half of 2024 in their effort to combat narcotics, firearms and gang related crimes.

The  special operations unit, which consists of the gang task force and the narcotics unit, has noted a large increase in the amount of narcotics seized in the first half of 2024 compared to the entire year of 2023.

So far this year, the special operations unit has conducted more than 50 investigations. Detectives in the unit have served more than 100 search warrants which resulted in more than 30 cases where the suspects involved were either arrested or charges were sought.

The goal is to confiscate illegal substances, firearms, and other contraband. Every city and most major unincorporated areas of the county are represented in these totals.

“The dedication and relentless efforts of our special operations unit have made a significant impact on the safety and well-being of our community,” Sheriff Ian Parkinson said. “By targeting and dismantling these criminal networks, we are sending a clear message that illegal activities will not be tolerated.”

The following narcotics were seized so far in 2024:
• 1.18 pounds of heroin
• 15.51 pounds of methamphetamine
• 58 grams of MDMA
• 3.23 pounds of fentanyl
• 5.71 pounds of cocaine
• 250 marijuana plants
• 20 pounds of marijuana
• 2.5 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms
• 4.47 pounds of illegal pills
• 176 grams of LSD
• 12,939 counterfeit Adderall pills
• 39,450 Farmapram Xanax pills
• 2 pounds of ketamine

In addition, the special operations unit seized 149 firearms and one flame thrower, which were either illegally possessed or possessed in conjunction with controlled substances.

The operation also resulted in the seizure of $240,743 under asset forfeiture.

 


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Ahh yes, can’t forget to note with pride the 241k the cops got to legally steal with the retrograde asset forfeiture laws. What a proud day for the thin blue line gang.


-1

Wait a minute. Approximately 70% of search warrants result in zero arrests or charges? That sounds like serious violations of civil rights.


-11

Sounds that way to me too. Have you ever heard the saying “Back the blue until it happens to you.”


-4

End the Drug War! The only groups who have won anything are the dealers, cartels, cops living off money they’ve confiscated without due process or the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment, and those who are determined to tear apart the bill of rights.


If you don’t believe me? Fine How about the guy who came up with the whole thing for Nixon, John Ehrlichman who said this a few years ago


“You want to know what this [war on drugs] was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying?


We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.


Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”


~ John Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon


-16

I assume the drugs are destroyed but what happens to the cash? Where does the $240k go?


14

Criminal forfeiture is usually carried out in a sentence following a conviction, 10 percent to DAs’ office 90 percent to law enforcement.


8

I don’t know what “criminal forfeiture” is. The article says “asset forfeiture”, and I certainly know what that is. It is a euphemism for the government stealing from its citizens with absolutely no due process or realistic and timely access to appeal. In many cases it is simply a “taking” absent “just compensation”, and is supposed to be prohibited by the fifth amendment of the US Constitution (also known as the “Bill of Rights”). One does not even need to be accused of a crime to have ones assets forfeited. The procedure is completely infested with corruption. In a recent case the government took the contents of safe deposit boxes because they suspected the entity renting out the boxes (read bank, but in this case it wasn’t a bank) of something unrelated to the boxes.


5

I wasn’t making a judgement I was answering a question.

And I will again. After a conviction the asset forfeiture will become criminal forfeiture making it that much easier for the government to keep.


4

The guy that’s no longer in possession of his flame thrower is bummed.


15