The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office says it is making great strides in combating drug, gun and gang crime throughout the county.

The Special Operations Unit, a combination of the sheriff’s gang task force and the drug enforcement unit, has reportedly seized more drugs since January than in all of 2023.

Among these drugs, 1.4 kilograms of fentanyl were seized, according to the sheriff’s office.

Although Detective Division Commander Chad Nicholson is proud of what they have accomplished so far, he knows there is still a lot of work ahead.

“It’s certainly reassuring because it hopefully means there’s less of it in circulation. But there’s still a lot of fentanyl in circulation,” he said.

According to the sheriff, the special unit has conducted more than 50 investigations and issued more than 100 search warrants so far this year, resulting in 30 arrests or criminal charges filed with the district attorney’s office.

“We want to find out who their supplier is and who that person’s supplier is so we can take down the entire drug organization,” Nicholson said.

He explained that many of the firearms and drug seizures handled by the special unit are related to gang crime in the county.

According to sheriff’s office data, every city and most major unincorporated areas were represented in the overall results.