Area Police Departments Team Up For Drug Operation
By Space Coast Daily // February 18, 2013
Melbourne, Palm Bay Conduct Joint Operation
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – A joint operation between the Melbourne Police Department and the Palm Bay Police Departments aimed at suppressing illegal drug traffic throughout south Brevard County yielded multiple arrests Friday.
Palm Bay Public Information Officer Yvonne Martinez said that “Operation Rocky Road” focused on the Babcock Street corridor between Florida Avenue and University Boulevard, a main traffic route through the two largest municipalities in Brevard County.
The operation used the resources of both agencies and included more than one dozen officers and detectives.
Martinez said the mission was an attempt to locate narcotics and other illegal activity through probable cause traffic stops within the corridor.
The daylong operation yielded a total of 43 traffic stops, eight arrests, 13 traffic citations and eight written warnings.
The arrests included narcotics-related crimes, driving while license suspended and in one case, a violation of community control involving a homicide.
“Babcock Street is known to be a high drug traffic corridor in our city. We statistically run data over the strip and we found that 60 percent of our drug arrests have come from this roadway,” said Sgt. John Chapman of the Melbourne Police Department who coordinated the operation.
“Whenever we do a large scale operation along these lines it typically subdues the amount of drugs in the area. It also has the effect that lets people know we are out here, they see the high enforcement in the area and it keeps people in general from trying to bring drugs into the area.”
Martinez said the Melbourne and Palm Bay Police Departments will continue to work together in joint enforcement operations in an attempt to reduce crime and improve the safety and quality of life in both cities.
