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Berkeley police made the biggest pot bust in the department’s recent history Wednesday, and they wanted people to know.  

“This is huge for Berkeley,” said Public Information Officer Ed Galvan, who came into police headquarters on his day off to talk to the media. “This is the largest sophisticated marijuana-growing operation we’ve had.” 

Special Enforcement Unit (SEU) officers raided a converted West Berkeley warehouse at 809 Allston Way, arresting six suspects, and seizing 2,500 plants in various stages of growth and roughly 100 pounds of dried pot. Police also descended upon related operations in Oakland, Brentwood and Castro Valley, where they confiscated an additional 2,500 plants, cash and assorted firearms. A seventh suspect was captured in Oakland. 

In all, officers seized more than 5,000 plants and $120,000 in cash.  

Suspects face felony charges for cultivation of marijuana for sale and weapons. All will spend time in jail, Galvan said.  

The investigation was five months in the works, and corralled 21 officers from the SEU, Bicycle Detail and the Detective Division. All work was conducted internally.  

The raids were unrelated to a pot-candy bust in Oakland Thursday, Galvan said.  

At police headquarters Friday, a room was set up for media interviews and viewing of several high-resolution photographs mounted on poster board that depicted rows of plants, firearms neatly arranged like a jewelry collection and mug shots of the suspects, all white males between 23 and 34 years old. 

This is the fresh face of public relations at the Berkeley Police Department.  

“My job is to tout what we do well,” Galvan said, and the bust, unique in part because “everything went so smoothly,” is a prime example. 

“Anytime you take drugs and guns off the street, it’s a good thing,” he said.  

But whether Berkeley residents unanimously agree remains to be seen.  

Some would rather see the Police Department hone in on homicides, which claimed the lives of four youths in recent months. Two of those cases remain unsolved. 

In response to criticism, Galvan said: “We put more than 21 officers on both the homicides. There is only so much we can do. We can’t shake the students and say, ‘What did you see? What did you do?’ 

“There’s going to be a large part of the community who complains, ‘Why are you wasting time on drug wars?’” he said. “But a lot of hazards are related to it,” including fires ignited by grow lights, weapon use, robbery and murder. Galvan cited the 2003 murder of a young person in a pot-related incident in the Berkeley hills as evidence that marijuana is not a victimless crime. 

“The general population believes that marijuana is OK to have and to smoke and to grow in this town because historically we have not done a lot proactively, they think,” Galvan said. “But we’ve always been very proactive on marijuana grows. We’re not after one or two plants, but when you start having 200 plants, that’s more than people can use on their own.””