Tue, Dec 02 2008
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Published September 06, 2008 12:46 am - Police sweep park area Warrants, patrols response to rising violence By Donna Hales Sixteen police officers in bullet-proof helmets and vests, guns strapped to their legs and toting submachine guns or AR-15 rifles were on the hunt Friday. They manned seven police cruisers and a police mini-bus in which dark windows hid them. The caravan wound silently through the streets of Muskogee. Pedestrians and motorists stopped to look, despite the absence of flashing lights or sirens. Five shootings and two stabbings in an 8-10 block radius around Rotary Park on Aug. 24 had prompted a “Saturation Patrol” by police ending Aug. 31. Friday’s Operation TNT (Target Narcotic Traffickers) was a follow-up to Saturation Patrol. “Luckily, nobody is dead yet — two (victims) are still in the hospital,” Special Operations Team Commander and Police Capt. Chad Farmer said. The conditions of those victims were not known Friday, police said. Friday morning, two Special Operations Team operatives slipped out of the van on Boston Street. They jumped over alley fences and into the back yard of a residence in the 2400 block of Columbus. By then, 14 more riot-clad operatives rolled out of the van on Columbus, rifles or submachine guns in hand and armed with a search warrant. Bolstered by Special Investigations Team members, they merged and quickly surrounded a house. Loud sonic-like booms ripped through the air, as if a war had just started. No one had been shot, and there were no actual explosions. “Flash bangs” had been set off. “They’re like 75-decibel shotgun blasts going off,” Farmer said. Dogs in the vicinity stopped barking and were almost whimpering for a short time. It’s a diversion, Farmer said. Within a few minutes, one of two arrest warrants had been served, and an occupant of the house was being led out in handcuffs. Police were on a roll, planning to serve 57 arrest warrants. The local SWAT team’s Saturation Patrol was planned to stop threats and calm the neighborhood. Police opted for a pro-active approach over being reactive, Farmer said. The night after the Aug.25 shootings, two police officers also got hurt on Elgin Street trying to arrest somebody, Farmer said. 
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