Operation Pass Resolve: Months-Long Op Culminates In Large Sweep

BEAUMONT, CA — Hundreds of law enforcement officers from across the Inland Empire converged on the Pass Area early Wednesday morning in a large-scale operation. The operation, led by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, began around 6 a.m. and lasted much of the day. It was the culmination of 15 months of work on the part of local, regional and federal officials.

Dubbed 'Operation Pass Rescue,' authorities from the Riverside County District Attorney's Gang Impact Team worked with Beaumont, Banning and other area police agencies to help curb weapons and drug trafficking in the Pass Area.

"The primary focus of Operation Pass Resolve has been to reduce crime and violence while targeting organized crime, wanted felons, and those trafficking weapons and drugs," a news release from the District Attorney's office states.

A total of 19 teams of law enforcement officers served some 65 warrants at locations in Banning, Beaumont, the Coachella Valley, Hemet and Menifee on Wednesday. By the end of the day, two dozen people were arrested, according to the DA's office.

Since the inception of Operation Pass Rescue, more than a dozen other arrests have been made. And at a press conference in Beaumont on Wednesday afternoon, weapons seized throughout the 15-month investigation were on display, which you can view in some of the photos above and video below.

"It's impressive, the number of weapons that were seized," District Attorney Mike Hestrin said. "These are weapons in the hands of criminals. People that are legally prohibited from having weapons, that are in gangs, that are in organized crime. You hear a lot about gun crimes, but these are the gun crimes right behind me. And so it's important work to get these guns out of the hands of criminals so that our citizens and our police officers can be safe."

During Wednesday's operation, a police staging area was set up on Oak Valley Parkway, where dozens of marked and unmarked law enforcement vehicles were parked. The Beaumont Police Department's "mobile community substation" was on site, along with a large Homeland Security Investigations truck.