Police officers from all over Miami-Dade teamed up in a crime sweep of the county's northern area Thursday.
In all, more than 150 officers were on patrol, with many of them comprising the Tactical Narcotics and Multi-Agency Gang Task Forces.
"A lot of units that are involved here today do this 24 hours a day, 24/7, 7 days a week," said Miami-Dade Narcotics Capt. Alfredo Ramirez.
Many of the arrests were for drug offenses. Police told NBC 6 those crimes often lead to more.
"Drugs is a gateway component to crime in the community," Ramirez explained. "It's an ongoing struggle, and is always a nexus to the gang violence, the gun violence, to the shootings."
Authorities were prepared to make several dozen arrests. They credit the success of such sweeps to a "third partner."
"We do our enforcement component, and we also reach out to the community, get their input, try to solicit leads," Ramirez pointed out.
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Those leads, Ramirez said, can sometimes lead to critical arrests.
