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SANTA BARBARA, CA – 4/12/2007 – For years the 400 to 600 blocks of East Yanonali Street has been designated as the Labor Line, a place where workers seeking casual labor could wait for an opportunity to work.  On any given day, one hundred or more men would gather along the three block stretch, ostensibly waiting to be picked up by people seeking inexpensive, reliable labor.  SBPD has long known that drug dealers mingled with the workers, hoping to make money; not by the sweat of their brow, but by engaging in street level drug dealing.  In turn, the dealers attract a seedy cadre of drug users plying the neighborhood looking to make quick hand-to-hand drug deals.  In the past, SBPD has targeted the labor line drug problem with one or two day operations designed to impact dealers and warn sellers.  Progress was made, but the problem proved too entrenched for short-term fixes.

The problem of drug use is not a victimless crime: Many businesses, residents, and staff from two area homeless shelters have complained for years about drug dealing, fights, theft, open prostitution, and intoxicated people using public streets as their personal bathroom.  In particular, the proximity to homeless shelters vexes people struggling with addictions problems of their own.

In February, Police Chief Cam Sanchez directed that a multi-pronged effort be levied against Labor Line drug dealing and other associated crimes.  The effort included the Tactical Patrol Force, Narcotics Detail, and patrol officers.  Enforcement included use of undercover officers, surveillance, and directed patrol operations.  The mission was to “Eradicate drug dealing at or near the Labor Line.”  The problem proved to be more entrenched than first imagined: With surprising ease, officers watched hand-to-hand drug transactions and arrested the dealers and customers alike.  Detectives discovered that the area had become more of an open-air drug bazaar than a de facto Labor Line.  Word definitely did not seem to get out as operations conducted on subsequent days resulted in an ever increasing number of arrests.  The principal drugs of choice were crack cocaine and cocaine powder, with a little crystal meth thrown in.  Gradually, stubbornly the presence of drug dealers receded from the area.  After seven weeks, the results of the operations include 56 arrests:  44 people arrested on felony charges and 14 for misdemeanors.  Arrests charges include 15 for sales of cocaine, 14 for possession of cocaine, 11 for possession of drug paraphernalia, 10 for loitering in an area for the purpose of engaging in drug activity, 5 for parole and 4 for probation violations.  (Note that some arrestees had multiple charges.)  Several of the drug dealers were criminally deported felons who were not supposed to have returned to the U.S.  About half of the buyers listed their address as homeless.  The Labor Line operation resulted in several spin-off investigations including: The recent closure of a prostitution ring operating on the Eastside, maintaining a house for narcotics use, and weapons violations.

Despite this effort, SBPD holds no illusions about open drug dealing being permanently eradicated from the greater Labor Line area.  SBPD does intend to keep up the pressure with the goal of improving the long term public safety of the region.

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