SAVANNAH, GA (June 14, 2013): Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police officers from the Islands and Central precincts arrested two suspects on felonies and five on misdemeanors in an abbreviated version of a “Total Focus” sweep Thursday.
Arrested on felonies were Gregory Patrick Pinckney Jr., 24, who was being sought on a probation violation, and Robert James Caulfield II, 45, for possession of a controlled substance.
Caulfield was arrested after plain clothes officers witnessed a drug transaction at Emory Street and Derenne Avenue. As the parties separated the take down team arrested the seller after a foot chase in the Oak Forest area. Caulfield, the buyer, received injuries to his face when he resisted arrest, pulled away from officers and ran into a traffic sign.
Twenty-nine Patrol and Crime Suppression Unit Officers, including SCMPD Canine and Aviation units, saturated eight neighborhoods where residents had complained of criminal activity. Besides the arrests, the issued 10 citations and conducted 28 field interviews.
The operation was part of the two precincts’ response to Chief Willie Lovett’s charge to reduce crime during the summer months when reports traditionally climb.
Tagged “Operation Mini Focus” after larger-scale “Total Focus” operations being conducted jurisdiction-wide this year, this effort was focused on drug sales, burglaries, entering autos and other criminal activity recently reported in the two precincts. Aggressive tactics were used.
The effort focused on the Pine Gardens, Avondale, Edgemere/Sackville and Oak Forest areas of the Islands Precinct. In Central they focused on Cuyler-Brownsville, Burroughs Avenue from 34th to 38th streets, the Waters Avenue corridor north of Victory Drive, Jefferson and Anderson streets near Victory Drive, and the intersection of West 34th and Jefferson streets.
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