Extra police officers were in Mt. Airy tonight for a drug sweep. Police say the drug problem in the neighborhood is what leads to most of the shootings there.
Local 12's Angela Ingram went along for the sweep Thursday night.
Police sent-in undercover officers to put a finger on the people responsible for pushing drugs in that neighborhood. They came up with 16 names and 16 warrants.
Thursday night, they were out looking for the suspects.
Uniform and undercover officers spread out on Mt. Airy streets Thursday evening. They're looking for 15 men and one woman all wanted for dealing drugs. Police say the drug problem is causing a rise in violent crime.
"Right now Mt. Airy out of the eight communities in Cincinnati's District 5 has the highest number of shootings which is very troubling that our violent crime is spiking."
For weeks, under cover officers at District 5 have been buying drugs from suspected dealers that helped identify the suspects.
Most of the problems are on Monfort Hills Avenue, Rack Court, and Flanigan.
"Up on Flanigan, we had a vehicle that was shot up with a .45 caliber and an SAS assault rifle a few weeks ago."
Neighbors and suspects were caught off guard by the flood of officers. Later, Citizens on Patrol joined police to show a strong presence.
"I think it's okay and it's good. I like to see everybody out here trying to help everybody."
"We have a Police Chief with directive, we have the officers. Things are going to change and citizens are getting involved."
Police say this effort is just part of a much larger plan to make Mt. Airy safe for the people living here.
"This electric fence for dogs and cats, criminals don't have that. They go everywhere."
"To those good people that live on the street, the police are there to help you, we're going to take back these streets and to the bad ones, step up do the right thing or you're going to see a lot of police presence and you're not going to like it."
Members of Citizens on Patrol from College Hill joined the Mt. Airy group walking the streets.
Minutes after the group left the area officers found a loaded 9-millimeter handgun on a 15-year-old. He was arrested and taken to a juvenile jail.
Officers arrested 5 suspects on Thursday.
They were pulled from the drug sweep to investigate the child shot and didn't get as many as they targeted.
They'll be out again Friday looking for the others.
