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"Operation Fall Cleanup," directed by Detective Sgt. Kevin Hebert, included detectives, unformed officers and the K-9 unit who focused on clearing commercial parking lots, hotel lots, truck stops and other localized areas of wrongdoing.
The quality-of-life initiative has been proven to help reduce crime in other areas.
It deters those who’d break the law from doing so, embolden citizens to become active – by calling police and identifying suspicious people and vehicles – and aims to prevent small-time criminals from committing more serious crimes.
The Mahwah sweep produced charges as seemingly mundane as lying to police to possession of drugs that included heroin, hash oil and marijuana, Batelli said.
His officers also wrote 30 motor-vehicle summonses in the two-week stretch and seized more than $4,000 in assets for possible forfeiture, he said.
They also picked up promising leads in crimes elsewhere and were working with their colleagues in those jurisdictions, the chief said.
Batelli called it “a planned initiative using both intelligence on criminals and excellent police work.”
Officers assigned to the detail included Detectives Eric Larsen and Michael Grassi, Patrol Among participating were Officers David Vega, Christopher Fasulo, Jonathan Weber, Timothy Letavish, John Rodriguez, Luke Rice and Robert Rapp, along with K-9 Remco.
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