Officer Frank Oviedo pulled up next to the parking lot of a Speedy Cash on the corner of Grant and Alvernon. Five people sat cross-legged on the asphalt, the youngest crying as officers asked basic questions and wrote their names on white notepads.
“You’re driving around looking for instances where people can be contacted, like ‘oh, this person might be trespassing’ or ‘this person looks like they’re using drugs,’ and then you stop,” Oviedo said.
The five were being arrested for trespassing and drug paraphernalia possession during one of the city’s monthly Safe City deployments on Feb. 25 — an initiative city leaders say is meant to link people to help, but where enforcement remains a central tool…