DANVILLE, Va. – Operation Safe Streets, a joint local and state law enforcement public safety initiative, led to 156 arrests on 236 felony and misdemeanor charges in just three months in Danville and Pittsylvania County, according to Virginia State Police.
From May 31, through July 29, the Virginia State Police, Danville Police Department and Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office seized 79 illegal firearms and $1.4 million in marijuana during the collaborative enforcement effort, according to a news release from state police.
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Additional drug seizures and arrests involved 226 grams of cocaine and crack cocaine, as well as 3 grams of heroin. Eighty-seven of the felony arrests were for illegal drug-related offenses.
“The mission of this initiative was to identify, target and arrest those individuals and/or gang members responsible for the distribution and /or manufacturing of illegal narcotics and other criminal activity in the City of Danville and selected areas of Pittsylvania County,” said Captain Rex Taylor, Division Commander of the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s (BCI) Salem Field Office. “Because of the dedicated efforts of our law enforcement partners to disrupt the drug and gang-related activities plaguing these local communities, we have been able to help Danville and Pittsylvania County become safer places for residents to call home.”
Operation Safe Streets was a collaborative effort among the Virginia State Police BCI Drug Enforcement Section, the Danville & Pittsylvania County Drug and Gang Task Force, Danville Police Department Street Crimes Unit and Special Investigations Division, and the Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office.