Nearly 80 percent of all the arrests made in the Santa Clarita Valley in a two-day mid-week period were for either drug or alcohol violations.
Of the 34 arrests made on Wednesday and Thursday, 27 were related to substances.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Shirley Miller said deputies are addressing the issue of substance abuse.
On Wednesday night, deputies carrying out a DUI “saturation” crackdown issued 12 citations including one for impaired driving, Miller told The Signal Thursday.
Other citations issued Wednesday were for drivers found talking on cell phones, speeding and at least one case of a driver running a red light, Miller said.
Day-to-day numbers, however, show drug and alcohol offenses topping the list of the most common crimes that end in arrest.
Two-day breakdown
On Wednesday, eight people – out of 19 – were arrested for possessing a controlled substance, a misdemeanor.
Two others were arrested possession of a controlled substance for sale and one person arrested on suspicion of possessing drug paraphernalia.
And four people were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
On Thursday, five out of 15 were arrested for possessing a controlled substance while seven were arrested on alcohol charges.
Recent history
Local narcotics detectives shut down suspected drug houses in the Santa Clarita Valley, having carried out three raids in the last three months.
On March 8, they arrested more than a dozen people for drug offenses including a 65-year-old Canyon Country woman was arrested on suspicion of running a drug house on Nearbrook Street.
On May 9, narcotics detectives raided a house on Alaminos Drive where they arrested a man and a woman on drug offenses.
On May 23, a drug raid was carried out on a house on 27000 block of Maben Avenue, where at least five suspected heroin and methamphetamine dealers were arrested. A 57-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of operating a drug house.
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