How goes Manteca’s war on meth?

Manteca Police officers have managed to get 187 pounds of meth off the streets so far for the current fiscal year that ends in 11 days.

Based on the street value of a pound of meth pegged at $8,405 as determined by Kern County law enforcement — ground zero in the meth war — that means Manteca Police seized meth valued at $1,571,735. That’s a sizeable hit for gangs that distribute and sell the poison.

Manteca’s street crime unit also seized more than $187,000 in asset forfeiture funds plus made 114 felony arrests.

Manteca’s gang suppression unit has tallied 113 felony arrests to date including 18 arrests involving street terrorism gang enhancement crimes meaning if convicted they will go away to state prison for a long, long time. They also seized 53 firearms most of which were stolen from law-abiding citizens who failed to properly secure their weapons mostly in their homes as law enforcement repeatedly points out.

Police Chief Nick Obligacion’s annual report to the Manteca City Council during their budget workshop on Monday notes that they have been able to process numerous DNA examples that have allowed them to identity and arrest auto, commercial and residential burglary suspects as well as suspects in robberies. That has helped police reduce burglaries by 5.21 percent in 2013 and 21.14 percent so far this year. Overall felonies were down 5.37% in 2013 and 17.3 percent to date in 2014.

And for those concerned with code enforcement issues revolving mostly around property upkeep, the department opened 2,019 new cases while closing 2,406 cases primarily through voluntary compliance once issues were brought to a property owner’s attention.