Major police action underway in Salt Lake City’s homeless district

Photo: Gephardt Daily/Steve Milner

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 29, 2016, (Gephardt Daily) — After weeks of intense undercover surveillance operations, police appear to be staging a major crackdown on drug dealers and buyers in Salt Lake City’s homeless district.

The police action began Thursday morning with officers conducting multiple arrests in the area adjacent to homeless shelters on Rio Grande street.

Sources close to the investigation told Gephardt Daily the crackdown is a part of multi-jurisdictional effort with law enforcement agencies throughout the Salt Lake Valley taking part in the operation.

The police action comes just days after five people were stabbed outside one of the shelters during a botched drug buy.

Earlier this month, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski hinted that a crackdown was imminent, saying a “unique” law enforcement effort would begin in late September or early October.

Gephardt Daily has a crew on the scene and will provide more information on this developing story as it becomes available.

2 COMMENTS

  1. I think its about time ….me and my husband one night decided to park downtown and go walk around so we could check out the little stores and the mall…needless to say we forgot where we had parked…which was okay because we was just window shopping but we walked down the wrong street…there was probably atleast 20 people shooting up right there on the street and never even looked up to see if we was cops or if we had kids with us…its pretty sad …I told my husband these people that are that low in there lives that they shoot up on a main street and have no care in the world but shooting up…To take them to jail who be coming up…A warm place to sleep and 3 meals a day a shower…that’s pretty sad when jail would be a come up….considering I don’t think they need jail they need help…treatment and a will to want a better life…but I’m sure its hard to want Better when you feel like there is no way to get there…THIS WORLD HAS BECOME A VERY SAD PLACE…

  2. I live in the apartments just north of 200s 500w intersection. These people make the area I live in, one where you need to be careful of who’s walking by you. The aggressive ways that these homeless people are asking for money is ridiculous. It doesn’t help that the ignorant people of salt lake constantly give money to these types of people. There are signs all around that say don’t give to panhandlers. I don’t enjoy having to worry every time my wife decides to go outside or even drive out of our complex. Homeless people are everywhere, I hate where I live because of them, and we are planning on moving as soon as possible.

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