S.F Cops Bust a Bunch of Drug Dealers Near Local Schools

By Suzanne Stathatos Tue., Sep. 11 2012 at 4:31 PM

Categories: Crime, Education

Not exactly a straight-A student

This is how the San Francisco Police Department welcomed students back to school this year: putting drug dealers behind bars.

Just in time for school to start, police wrapped up its two-week program called "Operation Safe Schools," in which they successfully plucked 25 accused drug dealers off the streets of San Francisco, especially near local schools.

These dealers were busted selling drugs to police officers, and 10 of them will get more time behind bars for selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school, according to SFPD.

Here's what the cops did to catch these nefarious profiteers: An undercover narcotics officer would approach someone selling drugs, make a purchase, and walk off with the loot in hand. Meanwhile, another team of officers nearby observed this transaction, and once completed, the team would move in on the dealer and make an arrest.

The operation was based near schools in the Bayview, Mission, and Tenderloin neighborhoods because, "there's always been a history" of drug-trafficking in these areas, Officer Carlos Manfredi told us.

District Attorney George Gascón, who, incidentally, really likes it when kids go to school, helped police pull off this operation. He worked with the cops to make sure the dealers "were prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," he said in a statement.

SFPD normally goes after drug dealers at the start of every new school year "to make sure that we stop the drug trafficking from occurring on or nearby schools," Manfredi said. "Kids can be influenced."

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