Police Arrest 4 in Santa Ana Drug Sweep : Crime: The low number of those apprehended on what was city’s ‘busiest drug street’ is sign that Operation Weed and Seed is proving to be a success, officials say.

SANTA ANA —  Police on Thursday afternoon launched the city’s second major narcotics sweep under an experimental, federal anti-crime program.

Unlike a June 12 sweep which resulted in 30 arrests, Thursday’s crackdown on several blocks of Myrtle Street yielded only four arrests. Police said the handful of arrests was a sign that their presence and the city’s Operation Weed and Seed program was proving to be a success.

“We’re having trouble coming up with arrests on what at one time made up Santa Ana’s busiest drug street,” said Sgt. Gary Bruce, who has coordinated the crackdowns for the Santa Ana Police Department.

Officers on Thursday worked with county probation officers and agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

In April, Santa Ana was one of 16 cities nationwide selected by the U.S. Justice Department Operation Weed and Seed program. Santa Ana will receive $1 million.

As part of the local effort, federal, county and city agencies will try to “weed” out crime with increased enforcement in the roughly one-half-square-mile area, bounded by Sullivan, Raitt and 1st streets and McFadden Avenue.

The “seed” portion includes follow-up with social service agencies to provide neighborhood support, such as job training.

Since the program began in June, police have made 64 arrests, mostly on suspected drug violations, seized three handguns and $6,800 in suspected drug money and helped shut down a row of apartment houses on Myrtle Street being used for constant drug sales.

The program has not simply prompted dealers to go to other neighborhoods, Bruce said, because officers have arrested some of the most prominent street dealers in the first sweep and subsequent patrols in area.