Video taking off 18x its usual first day

'Operation Save Skid Row' targets more than two dozen alleged dealers downtown

ABC7's short report on the federal push has viewers debating what comes after the arrests, from follow-up to treating addiction.

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ABC7 Story of October 9, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 400,446 views a day, 18 times a normal first day on this channel (22,481).

'Operation Save Skid Row' targets over 2 dozen alleged drug dealers in notorious DTLA area

Federal law enforcement has given its campaign against drug dealing in downtown Los Angeles a name, "Operation Save Skid Row," and ABC7's short report on it reached far beyond the station's usual audience. Nine hours after it went up, the Short had passed 220,000 views. A Short here usually ends its whole first day closer to 22,000.

The clip is brief and its subject is plain: more than two dozen alleged drug dealers targeted in Skid Row, the downtown district that has long held one of the largest concentrations of unhoused people in the United States.

The comment section filled quickly, and it is less about the operation itself than about what comes next. Many viewers write that it is overdue. Plenty doubt there will be any follow-up, and several question the timing. Others, some writing about their own years in recovery, argue that taking dealers off the street changes little unless someone treats the addiction that keeps them in business. A few want the same in their own cities, from Portland to Kensington.

It was not the only ABC7 report drawing a crowd. Tropical Storm Rachel, already reaching the Southern California coast with rain on the way, carried the station's longer forecast video to about seven times its usual first day.

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