Mesa gang crackdown nets 130 arrests

Operation Summer Nights, a multiagency, anti-gang operation headed by the Mesa Police Department, resulted in 130 arrests during an 18-day period that ended Saturday.

Mesa police Thursday touted the success of the latest in a series of operations targeting gang members and their associates. Taking part in the operation were the police departments of Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale and Florence; the Arizona Department of Public Safety; the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and the Maricopa County Juvenile Probation Department.

"My message to the bad guys is if they're going to commit crimes, this isn't the place to do it," said Mesa police Chief George Gascón. "This is a good example of police working together, going after what matters and making all communities safer."

The joint effort yielded 65 felony arrests for crimes such as armed robbery, aggravated assault, sale of dangerous drugs and possession of explosives. Officers made contact with 141 gang members in 70 gangs. Operation members identified 54 gang members who weren't already in their databases. Police seized seven guns and made 10 marijuana and six methamphetamine arrests.

Police did not reveal the number of gang members contacted or arrested in individual cities.

Mesa officer Dwight Doane, who led the operation, said its goal was to target high-visibility areas frequented by gang members and their associates. He said operation members took a step-by-step approach each day in deciding what cities to target.

Gascón emphasized the operation and others like it aren't sweeps.

"We're going surgically after people who have been involved in this type of activity over and over again," he said. "We're a diverse community when it comes to gangs. We have seen a tremendous dip in crimes during operations like this."

Key suspects were apprehended, including a person accused of involvement in a drive-by shooting who was found with drugs, police said. Other high points included a gang-related shooting that is still being investigated, a felony arrest that yielded a meth lab, and a gang member suspected in an armed robbery.

In three anti-gang operations this year, authorities have taken 457 people into custody. Operation City Limits, conducted in February, netted 72 arrests, while Operation 480, in April, brought 255. Gascón said there's no correlation between the disparity in arrest numbers, although it may be because more agencies participated in April.

"We're going after quality, not quantity," said Gascón, who indicated another operation is likely this year. "If it happens that we only get 10 in the next operation, that should mean this type of crime is down."