November 29, 2005

OPERATION CLEAN SWEEP

Details: Members of the Lodi Police Department and California State Parole will be conducting several searches at a live-in style motel and a trailer park.  The searches will begin tomorrow (11/30/05) after a 7:00 am briefing, which will be held at the Lodi Police Department.  These two locations were selected due to a large volume of calls for police service and complaints of narcotics activity.

Following the searches, officers and police cadets will collect shopping carts that have been abandoned throughout the city.  If anyone is contacted while in possession of a shopping cart he or she will be subject to citation or arrest.  This particular portion of the operation is being conducted because many shopping carts become strollers, garbage bins, or pose some type of hazard to the public.  They are usually abandoned on the streets and alleys and are an eyesore to local residents.

During this time period, officers and members of Central Valley Waste will dismantle unsightly and hazardous homeless camps that are often being used by the dwellers to use narcotics and alcohol.  A Salvation Army representative will also be available in order to assist displaced persons.

This is the second operation of this type within the last six months.  The first operation yielded approximately 200 shopping carts being retrieved and approximately 3.5 tons of refuse collected that had been discarded in the alleys and streets.  This is an on-going effort to combat neighborhood blight and increase the quality of life for residents in the affected areas.

Contact:  LPD Detective Dale Eubanks (209) 333-6879 or cell number (209) 329-3496.

                 Lt. William Barry (209) 333-6730 or his cell (209) 329-2966.