LEWISTON — Police from more than a dozen local, state and federal agencies swarmed the downtown Wednesday in an attempt to crack down on shootings and other violence in the city.

Eight people were arrested during the beefed-up patrols. Police said similar operations will continue over the summer.

Those arrested included a juvenile police said was found with a firearm and a Lewiston man who was charged with manslaughter stemming from a fatal car wreck in May.

Starting about 2 p.m. Wednesday, police from a variety of agencies, several with tracking and drug-sniffing dogs, gathered at Walnut and Pierce streets as they prepared to fan out across the city.

The officers came from a variety of agencies, including deputies from Androscoggin, Cumberland and Lincoln county sheriff’s departments and police from nine cities, including Lisbon, Buxton, Saco and Old Orchard Beach. They were joined by agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives and other departments.

Among the eight people arrested was 26-year-old Blaze Smalls, who was charged with manslaughter in connection with a crash that killed a local woman and destroyed the front of a house on Old Lisbon Road in May.

The teenager who police said was caught with a firearm was arrested and taken to Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland.

At least one person was arrested on drug charges during the operation while others were charged with lesser crimes or on outstanding warrants.

The show of force downtown, police said, was a direct response to a series of shootings and other violence that has vexed Lewiston in recent years.

Over the course of one week in mid-June, three shootings in downtown Lewiston left one man injured and led to a police standoff. A mosque was also fired upon during that spree of gunfire.

Groups of city residents who have been monitoring gun violence seemed pleased with the police efforts Wednesday. They’d just like to see more of it.

“These operations need to continue unabated until Lewiston rids itself of those who have used it as a hub and safe haven for crime and violence of all kinds,” said Maura Murphy, co-founder of the Facebook group Lewiston Matters. “Without such a consistent, aggressive response to criminal behavior, we will never have the foundation we need to begin a new, long-overdue era of stability and prosperity.”

“I think locals are thrilled to see police actively tackling the criminal element that pervades our community,” said Lisa Jones, also of Lewiston Matters.

Joining police in the downtown Wednesday were representatives from the local district attorney’s and attorney general’s offices, who will be tasked with prosecuting those arrested for violent crimes in Lewiston.

“The recent arrests show what’s possible when we work together with urgency, coordination, and purpose,” Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline said Thursday. “This proactive enforcement is about taking action to protect and uplift our neighborhoods.”

The saturation patrols Wednesday resembled Operation Hot Spots, a series of beefed-up patrols enacted by then-Police Chief Michael Bussiere in the spring of 2012.

Bussiere began that program as a result of a drastic uptick in shootings and other problems that plagued the downtown.

In 2020, then-Police Chief Brian O’Malley put together a similar operation after a series of shots that culminated when a man was shot in broad daylight on a Bartlett Street sidewalk.

Police on Thursday said they plan to continue similar crime suppression operations whenever feasible in the months to come.