U.S. Marshals operation nets more than 35,000 arrests nationwide

[bemildred]

Source: Bay City News Service

The U.S. Marshals Service has arrested more than 35,000 fugitives, including in the Bay Area, in a monthlong operation that involved cooperation by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

Operation FALCON, which stands for Federal and Local Cops Organizing Nationally, arrested 35,190 fugitives nationwide between June 1 and June 30, according to Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Tommy Thompson, who was the commander of the operation.

In the Northern District of California, which includes the nine Bay Area counties along with Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties, law enforcement agencies arrested 106 fugitives on 121 warrants, Thompson said.

Law enforcement officials from 16 agencies in the district assisted in the arrest of eight sex offenders and a gang member, Thompson said. Six firearms, about $8,000 in cash, and more than 37 kilograms of narcotics were also seized.

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12800491?nclick_check=1

[madmusic]

1. Did they all cross state lines?

Is that how the feds got jurisdiction?

Just askin'.

[paulsby]

2. either that OR

they could have been charged with federal crimes. those are the two most obvious ways.

[caseymoz]

5. Or they were in an criminal organization that crossed state lines nt

[pipoman]

9. Maybe or local and state leos invited them in, which is very likely..

[sasquatch]

3. This stinks to high heavens in my opinion

[rasputin1952]

4. I have to agree...

Not because people were arrested on warrants, but there is an undercurrent of "Homeland Security" rippling through this.

As far as violent criminals go, I find that dealing w/them is a little different than a parking ticket scofflaw. If the majority of these are arrests for simple possession, there is a lot ot be said about the poor priorities of the involved agencies.

One other thing...if they can find 35,000+ people...where do they house them while awaiting trial?

[caseymoz]

6. Just where do they house them?

And how much are these cases going to clog the courts? I mean, they should get dangerous people off the streets, and I'm glad if they did. But arresting 35,000 of them at once-- sounds uneasily like Stalinism.

[vadawg]

7. you do realise this is nationwide and over a period of a few weeks i believe

stalin would just have rounded up the whole bay population stuck them in trains to circle northern canada for a couple of months then deposited the remains in the tundra somewhere.

[caseymoz]

11. Actually, under him, they arrested people all over, by quota.

[harun]

10. Yah, this aint passin the smell test.

[dysfunctional press]

8. one of my favourit memories involved going into the u.s. marshall's office in chicago...

in regard to having been assaulted by an over-zealous security guard on a power trip at the local social security office...yadda yadda yadda...i actually got the chance to say to the the u.s. marshall that "no, i don't want to make a federal case out of it." which we both got a chuckle out of.