At least three were arrested and five firearms seized, along with ammunition, during a two-day joint forces operation involving a specially assembled team working with local sheriff’s deputies and assigned to remove illegally possessed weapons from the Santa Clarita Valley.
The coordinated weapons sweep — dubbed Operation Dual Force — involved officers from Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Major Crimes Bureau and the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Firearms.
The team, with the help of local deputies, hit more than two dozen SCV addresses, looking for firearms illegally in the hands of those prohibited from possessing them.
Together, LASD and CA DOJ investigators worked to locate subjects, conduct field enforcement operations, and arrest those who have lost the right to possess firearms.
Between Feb. 11 and 13, the operation netted three arrests and resulted in the confiscation of one assault weapon, two rifles, one shotgun and one handgun.
Those prohibited from owning firearms can include people convicted of felonies and certain misdemeanors, or those subject to protective orders or judged by the courts to be severely mentally ill, said Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.
Operation Dual Force strives to keep neighborhoods safe by removing illegally possessed guns from communities, Miller said.
Such field enforcement operations are carried out within the jurisdictions of all Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department patrol areas.
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