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ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO R. GONZALES ANNOUNCES ARRESTS OF MORE
THAN 10,000 FUGITIVES THROUGH OPERATION FALCON
WASHINGTON, DC — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Ben Reyna,
Director of the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), today announced that the USMS,
working closely with its federal, state and local partners, has successfully
completed the largest fugitive apprehension operation in American history.
Through Operation FALCON (“Federal And Local Cops Organized Nationally”),
which was conducted April 4–10, 2005, Deputy U.S. Marshals and their law
enforcement partners arrested a total of 10,340 fugitives and cleared more
than 13,800 felony warrants.
“Operation FALCON is an excellent example of President Bush’s direction and
the Justice Department’s dedication to deal both with the terrorist threat
and traditional violent crime,” said Attorney General Gonzales. “This joint
effort shows the commitment of our federal, state, and local partners to
make our neighborhoods safer, and it has led to the highest number of
arrests ever recorded for a single initiative of its kind. We will use all
of our Nation’s law enforcement resources to serve the people, to pursue
justice, and to make our streets and Nation safer.”
“This operation, which produced the largest number of arrests ever recorded
during a single initiative, would not have been possible without the
cooperation of our law enforcement partners on the federal, state, and local
levels,” said Director Reyna. “Working together, we were able to take more
than 10,000 fugitives off the streets, making our communities safer for
everyone.”
Nearly 960 federal, state, and local agencies helped the USMS identify
thousands of the nation’s most dangerous fugitives during Operation FALCON.
The Marshals Service’s five regional fugitive task forces and three foreign
field offices joined forces with their counterparts to put more than 3,000
law enforcement officers on the street during each day of the operation. The
members of the task force prioritized for arrest those involved in
homicides, sexual assaults, gang-related crimes, kidnappings, major drug
offenses, crimes against children and the elderly, and unregistered sex
offenders.
Operation FALCON task force members sought foreign fugitives believed to be
in the United States, handled cases referred by the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children, and received support from the Organized
Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) at the Department of Justice.
INTERPOL and the State Department’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.
One such fugitive arrested through Operation FALCON is a Connecticut man who
was wanted in Hartford for murder and assault after shooting three
individuals. While the Marshals Service, the Hartford Police Department, the
Connecticut State Police, and the Connecticut Department of Probation
actively pursued their investigation, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement determined that the man had fled to Jamaica, where he had
relatives. Leads were forwarded to the USMS foreign field office in
Kingston, Jamaica, where Deputy U.S. Marshals, working in coordination with
the Jamaica Constabulary Force, located him at his mother’s residence. The
man is now being detained pending extradition.
“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,” said Robert J. Finan
II, the Marshals Service’s Assistant Director for Investigative Services.
“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.”
Operation FALCON coincided with the beginning of the U.S. Department of
Justice’s “National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.” During his remarks
announcing the results of Operation FALCON, the Attorney General praised the
efforts of the participating agencies, noting that targeting violent
fugitives provides justice for the victims of those crimes and ensures safer
communities. “By taking violent fugitives off the streets and putting them
behind bars where they belong,” said Attorney General Gonzales, “we’ve
honored the victims and made our streets safer.”
PHOTOS/VIDEO AVAILABLE
The Marshals Service Office of Public Affairs has photos of actual arrests
during the Operation available to press at
http://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 P.M. EDT (11:30
A.M. PDT) and 4:45 P.M. EDT (1:45 P.M. PDT), at these C-Band coordinates: IA
6 T-15, Downlink Frequency 4000 V 93 degrees WL.
PARTICIPATING AGENCIES
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.
PDF copy of this news release
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