About 80 members of local law enforcement units fanned out across Southwest County on Friday night during a coordinated sweep targeting area gangs.

Department of Justice Special Agent Supervisor Danny Santiago, the commander of the operation, said teams of officers were scheduled to conduct probation checks and parole searches during their time on the streets.

The teams also were to be on the lookout for gang activity in the region, stretching from Perris in the north to Temecula in the south.

The operation's base was set up at Jean Hayman Elementary School in Wildomar because of its central location.

"We normally use the parking lot of a high school, but this location wasn't being used and some of the high schools are having homecoming activities this evening," he said.

People living near the school were surprised to see the large number of police cruisers, undercover vehicles and tents set up at the school, which is closed for renovations.

Santiago said there was no reason for alarm. The sweep is a routine part of the enforcement activities of the Riverside County Gang Task Force and he said there was no particular incident or increased level of recent gang activity that triggered the operation or the location of the base camp.

The task force conducts similar sweeps on a rotating basis throughout the county, he said.

Around 4 p.m., unmarked police cruisers and other types of vehicles started to stream out of the Jean Hayman parking lot.

Some of the vehicles headed south ---- including a pack of three vehicles that appeared headed for the eastern edge of Murrieta ---- and some turned north to Lake Elsinore and Perris.

About an hour and a half after the first vehicles had been dispatched, a suspect was brought back to the base camp for questioning.

To help with some of the searches, Santiago said three U.S. Border Patrol K9 units were used during the operation, which was scheduled to wrap up at 10 p.m. Friday.

No information about the number of arrests made was available by The Californian's deadline.

The agencies that participated in the sweep include: the Riverside Sheriff's Department, Riverside County District Attorney's Office, Riverside County Probation Department, Murrieta Police Department, California Department of Justice Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, California Parole Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the U.S. Border Patrol.

Similar saturation sweeps in Riverside County and North County San Diego have yielded dozens of felony and misdemeanor arrests.

Earlier this year, during a saturation sweep in the Hemet area, 16 people were arrested.

Call staff writer Aaron Claverie at 951-676-4315, ext. 2624.