JEFFERSON COUNTY, Texas — The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department teamed up with city, state and federal agencies for their new Violent Crimes and Narcotics Initiative to crackdown on crime and get criminals off the street.
The week-long sweep started February 18, and took violent offenders, drugs and guns off the streets all over the county.
"We just came together and said hey, let's make it an initiative a collaborative effort and you know what drives that? Turning on the news, turning on your stories. And seeing weekend, after weekend people getting shot, houses being burglarized, innocent people being hurt. It was time for us to get together, share information," Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens told 12News.
According to Sheriff Stephens, law enforcement agents targeted high crime areas by door knocking, making traffic stops and speaking to people who are walking.
"That's talking to people in in neighborhoods. That's what that means. Most people in almost every neighborhood in our community can identify the people who are a threat to their community," said Stephens, "Cause people in the neighborhoods are going to tell you, people who have been victimized are going to tell you. You know, so we put all of that information together along with past arrests, past behavior, parole officers."
Agents have also been going undercover as customers to catch drug dealers in action.
"I'm proud to say that we got weapons, cause weapons hurt people, and so we got a lot of weapons off of people. Certainly we got crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, meth," Stephens said.
Overall, 18 people were arrested, and paraphernalia like an AR shot barrel rifle, five pistols, PCP, marijuana and more were seized.
Sheriff Stephens has a message for the criminals of Jefferson County.
"We're letting the bad guys know that we see you and that we're gonna be sharing resources even more than we've done in the past. To try to keep the community safe, and keep the bad guys in jail where they belong," Stephens told 12News.