Police use downtown surveillance to bust drug users

REDLANDS — Four people were arrested on a variety of drug charges this past weekend after first being spotted by surveillance cameras aimed at strategic locations in the downtown area.

An off-duty policeman, monitoring the Redlands Police Department’s video surveillance cameras, spotted the suspects sitting in a downtown parking lot near the local mall using heroin. He had spotted a 1998 Honda four-door with its doors open and four people inside.

Officers were sent to the scene and located heroin, syringes and additional drug paraphernalia.

Police arrested three adults: Adrian Rojas, 24, of Highland, Paul Thomas Gregory, 21, and Stephanie Lynne Curran, 19, both of Redlands, and a 17-year-old Redlands male on a variety of charges.

It’s not the first time Redlands police have utilized its surveillance system to get arrests.

“This incident highlights the value of our camera system,” said Redlands police Chief Jim Bueerman. “The suspects were using heroin in a very public place in a matter not recognizable by the average person.”

“This system allowed us to leverage our scarce resources by putting police officers where they need to be, at the exact time they were needed,” Bueerman added. “This increases the safety of our community.”

A few months earlier, Redlands authorities used the camera system to nab a shoplifter at a downtown store.