Chief Bernadette DiPino and members of the Sarasota Police Department Criminal Investigations Division along with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), United States Attorney’s Office and the Florida State Attorney’s Office of the 12^th Judicial Circuit will hold a news conference tomorrow, Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at 1 p.m., at Sarasota Police Department Headquarters, in the 2^nd Floor Community Room, 2099 Adams Lane, Sarasota.  Media planning to attend are asked to arrive by 12:45 p.m. to allow for an on-time start.

The news conference is in reference to an extremely successful, extended operation that took place between January 2019 and September 2019 in the City of Sarasota where the Sarasota Police Department partnered with ATF agents targeting the illegal possession and sale of firearms.

The operation for Sarasota Unified Reduction Gun Enforcement or SURGE, resulted in the identification of more than 100 individuals for the possession and sale of illegal narcotics and firearms within the City of Sarasota. 

The Sarasota Police Department Narcotics Unit, Street Crimes Unit, and Patrol Division, along with ATF agents, completed the operation with the purpose of curbing firearm violence within the City of Sarasota.  The operation was conducted with undercover officers buying firearms and narcotics from suspected dealers in areas that intelligence-led policing and crime analysis proved to be highest in drug and firearm crimes.

Additional information, photos and video will be released tomorrow following the news conference.

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