MB Police Partner with Sheriffs in Tagger Arrests

Ten off-duty Manhattan Beach police officers joined about 190 police officers in the arrest of 19 graffiti vandals who allegedly have caused more than $200,000 of damage in at least 500 acts of vandalism to Metro transit property and neighboring communities.

Acting Manhattan Beach Police Captain Andy Harrod told Patch that the multi-agency operation is a common approach that is used to great success by the South Bay Regional DUI Deployment. "We come together to help each other out," he said.

No arrests or searches were made in Manhattan Beach during the Wednesday morning operation, Harrod told Patch. 

The communities where the warrants and probation searches were conducted, and/or communities damaged by graffiti included: East Los Angeles – Ramona Gardens, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lennox, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, Palmdale, Redondo Beach, South Gate, South Los Angeles and the unincorporated area of Torrance, according to the Transit Services Bureau Special Problems Teams of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which was assisted by police departments in El Segundo, Hawthorne, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and South Gate, and by the L.A. County Probation Department “DISARM” Unit, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Children and Family Services and the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office.  

Four of the 19 suspects arrested are juveniles, and  all suspects were arrested for participating in a street gang, one suspect was also arrested for possession of marijuana for sales, two had deadly weapons, and numerous suspects were additionally charged with possession of vandalism tools. 

The arrested suspects are thought to be members of the prolific tagging crew “BDS”, or “Big Dog’s Crew,” which came to the attention of the sheriff’s department in July, 2010, when they were identified as one of the criminal graffiti tagging crews causing the most damage to Metro property including buses, trains, and passenger stations, as well as Metrolink trains and property, and property belonging to Cal Trans, the County of Los Angeles, several cities and communities within L.A. County, and the Union Pacific Railroad .