“OPERATION FALCON” BREAKS ALL RECORDS FOR FUGITIVE ARRESTS
Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 1:38 amAre they trying to habituate the American public to<br>Mass Arrests?<br><br><br>April 14, 2005 <br><br> <br>U.S. MARSHALS “OPERATION FALCON”<br>BREAKS ALL RECORDS FOR FUGITIVE ARRESTS<br><br>Des Moines, Iowa – More than 85 fugitives were apprehended by Deputy U.S. Marshals of the Southern District of Iowa, and other federal, state, and local law enforcement officers in and around Polk County last week. They were among thousands of fugitives on a list of felons destined for jail during the largest fugitive apprehension operation in American history. Operation FALCON (“Federal And Local Cops Organized Nationally”), which took place from April 4th through April 10th, was an unprecedented cooperative effort among federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities. Over the course of seven days, Deputy U.S. Marshals and their law enforcement partners arrested a total of 10,340 fugitives, and cleared more than 13,800 felony warrants. Locally, more than 115 outstanding arrest warrants were cleared during Operation FALCON.<br><br>“This was an enormous challenge that produced the largest number of arrests ever recorded by a single operation,” said Charles E. Beach, Sr., U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Iowa. “Locally, the Marshals share this great accomplishment with numerous federal, state, and local agencies that dedicated additional officers to assist us in this seven-day apprehension effort.”<br><br>Operation FALCON focused on violent crimes including homicides, robberies, sexual assaults, domestic assaults, and crimes against children. Also targeted were fugitives who victimized through burglary, larceny, fraud, narcotics violations, and weapons violations. Nationally, 243 guns were seized, and drugs were confiscated during 201 arrests. Task force members also arrested 154 gang members, 162 homicide suspects, and 553 sex offenders, and cleared 4,291 drug cases.<br><br>Locally, Operation FALCON cleared 19 assault warrants, 10 burglary/larceny warrants, 2 fraud warrants, 3 homicide warrants, 35 narcotics warrants, 1 sexual assault warrant, 1 stolen vehicle warrant, and 1 weapons violation warrant. Officers cleared 44 additional warrants which fell into other categories including domestic assault, child endangerment, failure to pay child support, escape, harassment, rioting, disorderly conduct, and several traffic related warrants.<br><br>Operation FALCON coincided with the beginning of the U.S. Department of Justice’s “National Crime Victims’ Rights Week,” the theme of which is “Justice isn’t served until crime victims are.” During his remarks announcing the results of Operation FALCON, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez praised the efforts of the participating agencies, noting that targeting violent criminals not only provides justice for the victims of those crimes, but also ensures safer communities. “By taking violent fugitives off the streets and putting them behind bars where they belong,” said General Gonzalez, “we’ve honored the victims in a way never realized before and made our streets safer.”<br><br>Fugitives whose cases were adopted by Operation FALCON were sought by the Marshals Service, other federal agencies, United States Attorneys, and courts at every level of government. Nationally, Operation FALCON task force members handled cases referred by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as well as those of foreign fugitives believed to be in this country. The Marshals Service also received support from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) at the Department of Justice. Interpol and the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service assisted in the investigations of persons wanted by law enforcement worldwide. Sixteen foreign and international fugitives who were arrested during Operation FALCON now face deportation or extradition proceedings.<br><br>Robert J. Finan II, the Marshals Service’s Assistant Director for Investigative Services, expressed his deep appreciation to officers from every agency that participated in Operation FALCON. “I applaud the achievements of every deputy Marshal, police officer, detective, trooper, investigator, deputy sheriff, and special agent who hit the street virtually around-the-clock for seven days. Also of note is that during the course of this initiative, there were no serious incidents or serious injuries to either law enforcement officers or those who were taken into custody.”<br><br>PHOTOS/VIDEO AVAILABLE<br>The Marshals’ Office of Public Affairs has photos of actual arrests during the Operation available to press at www.usmarshals.gov, as well as fact sheets on arrests nationwide and in each of the agency’s 94 Districts. A five-minute B-roll video package for broadcasters will be available for satellite distribution on April 14 at 2:30 pm EDT (11:30 am PDT) and 4:45 pm EDT (1:45 pm PDT), at these C-Band coordinates IA 6 T-15, Downlink Frequency: 4000 V 93 degrees WL.<br><br>PARTICIPATING AGENCIES<br>A complete list of all of the federal, state, and local agencies that participated in Operation FALCON is available at the Marshals Service website at www.usmarshals.gov. <br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.usmarshals.gov/district/ia-s/news/chron/041505.htm">www.usmarshals.gov/district/ia-s/news/chron/041505.htm</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=libertyordeath@rigorousintuition>LibertyorDeath</A> at: 4/27/06 11:39 pm<br></i>