Police descended on Los Angeles’ notoriously drug-infested MacArthur Park on Tuesday — sending users scurrying as ongoing sweeps have helped beat back the longtime scourge of crime in the area.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division, known for tackling more crime in a smaller area than almost anywhere in the city, has begun foot patrols in the park in an effort to complete a final cleanup of the green space, with commanding officer Captain Ben Fernandes overseeing the effort.
“They’re zombies, walking around aimlessly, just trying to get a fix,” Fernandes said. “We need to break the cycle.”
Officers in teams of nine patrolled the space Monday morning, quickly arresting one woman smoking fentanyl from a piece of tin foil who was so disoriented that she didn’t see the cops coming, with officers discovering a pipe for smoking meth and a container used for holding fentanyl.
An officer at the scene spoke bluntly about the arrest.
“She gave us four names, and she’s got a warrant for five grand,” the officer said. “It’s time for her to see a judge.”
As the foot patrol continued on the north side of the park, officers encountered only residents walking their dogs and resting on the grass.
Cops encountered more action on the south side of MacArthur, as a wave of users and small-time dealers scurried away from officers as they approached.
A homeless man left behind in the rush asked for a referral to a shelter, which police provided, and with the addicts gone, an elderly woman sat down on a bench to read a book.
“That’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” Fernandes said. “Clean up the park so that residents can use it.”
More than a century old and originally conceived as LA version of the Champs-Élysées, MacArthur Park fell on hard times in the 1980s as dealers and gangs moved in, with as many as 30 murders occurring there in 1990.
The awful conditions took a turn for the worse as deadly fentanyl and crystal meth moved in, fueling throngs of drug-addled users and a human-trafficking trade orchestrated by gang kingpins who enforced their reign with ruthless violence.
This year, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell began investigating after a number of people with ties to the 18th Street gang, the Mexican Mafia and the Sinaloa cartel were arrested in March, all working together using LA as a transshipment point for very large quantities of narcotics.
Operation Free MacArthur Park led to the seizure of 19 kilograms of powdered fentanyl, which is enough to kill 190,000, 3 pounds of methamphetamine and a large amount of cash.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said he had spoken to Mayor Karen Bass about the crackdown, and said she was in support of Thursday’s law enforcement action, hoping that when “we get the criminal elements out of the park, the city can come in and rehabilitate it. It needs work.”
“This is a continuation of Free MacArthur Park,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Anthony Chrysanthis told reporters. “I told everybody when I was here that day: This is not a one-day operation. We will come out again. It might be tomorrow, it might be next week,” he said. “We are here for the long haul.”
Norm Langer, owner of Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant located across the street at 704 South Alvarado, told The Post he believes the park’s transformation is about 70% complete.
“I want the park taken back for the families and children in the area,” Langer said. “We’ve gotten rid of a lot of the gangs; we’ve gotten a lot of the drugs off the street. And we still have work to do.”
“All we are doing by giving out needles is, number one, attracting more people that we didn’t have before and, number two, fighting a never-ending battle of helping people shoot up,” Langer said in a separate statement about city harm-reduction policies.
In the viral moment that prompted the current phase of sweeps, federal and local law enforcement launched “Operation Free MacArthur Park” after months of surveillance showed that drug dealers with cartel ties continued operating despite the March arrests.
Through the operation, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agents and LAPD detectives arrested at least 18 people suspected of supplying illegal drugs and for evidence of drug trafficking in MacArthur Park the area.
Nearly 19 kilograms — a little over 40 pounds — of fentanyl were seized, an amount worth about $8 million to $10 million.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement saying: “As we work to change MacArthur Park so that it’s safe and clean for families, we have zero tolerance for people who deal deadly drugs and prey on the community. We will continue to aggressively pursue our comprehensive strategy to restore MacArthur Park.”
The city of Los Angeles plans to install an 8-foot-tall metal fence around the perimeter of MacArthur Park beginning in fall 2026.