Text and photos by Sarah Phelan
SFPD Police Chief George Gascón reports on the results of a Tenderloin-based undercover drug operation.
On the way to today’s press conference at the Tenderloin Police Station, I bumped into the usual cast of characters—the guy in the wheelchair who flirts with everyone, the guy on the cell phone negotiating a payment plan for his debts, the woman talking in tongues as she crossed against the traffic at Eddy Street.
But absent from the melee was anyone selling drugs.
Maybe that was because of what the San Francisco Police Department is describing as an “intensive and ongoing narcotics enforcement operation in the Tenderloin district.”
This buy-bust operation, which began Aug.13, led to 302 arrests, officials said at today’s conference, which was attended by SFPD Chief George Gascón, District Attorney Kamala Harris, U.S. Attorney Joe Russoniello and F.B.I. Supervisory Special Agent Bryan Smith.
Mugshots of some of those arrested were on display at the Tenderloin Police Station.