LOCAL : 27 Arrested on Drug Charges at 2 Pacoima Street Corners

Los Angeles police arrested 27 people on drug charges in a five-hour undercover operation in which officers posed as drug dealers on two corners in Pacoima, authorities said today.

Police made the arrests between 3:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Van Nuys Boulevard and Pala Avenue and at Van Nuys and Ralston Avenue, said Capt. Valentino Paniccia.

Four suspected drug dealers were arrested at the intersection on suspicion of possession of cocaine and they were replaced by undercover officers, Paniccia said.

The officers then arrested 15 men and eight women on suspicion of soliciting to buy cocaine when the suspects approached and asked for drugs, Paniccia said. “At one point we ran out of handcuffs,� Paniccia said.

Those arrested for attempting to buy cocaine came from throughout the San Fernando Valley, indicating the area where the arrests were made is a well-known drug purchasing spot. Paniccia said police primarily focused on buyers during the operation in an effort to destroy the area’s reputation for drug sales.

For about half of those arrested on the felony violation, it was their first arrest, Paniccia said.

“These people don’t think about that what they are doing is wrong,� Paniccia said. “They don’t look like criminals. They don’t realize they are part of the problem.�