See below for two articles about "the largest coordinated crackdown by federal, state and local law enforcement officials in history" which just
happened this week. I think people opposed to anything the government is doing should sit up and take notice when the governent decides to practice
unprecedented nationwide round-ups like this.

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Roundup Nabs More Than 10, 000 Fugitives
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: April 15, 2005

Filed at 9:56 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jose Rivera-Sanchez, a fugitive since tunneling out of a
Puerto Rican prison 11 years ago, took a new name and found new lodgings in
Connecticut. Authorities finally caught up with him at his Waterbury
apartment. Rivera-Sanchez was arrested along with more than 10,000 fugitives
wanted for murder, rape, child abuse and other crimes in the largest
coordinated crackdown by federal, state and local law enforcement officials
in history.

The number of arrests during the weeklong effort last week was 10 times the
average for such a period, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, which led
the nationwide dragnet timed to coincide with National Victims Rights Week.

At the same time, however, those arrests represent just 1 percent of the 1
million fugitives in the FBI's national database, the Marshals Service says.

More than 150 of those nabbed April 4-10 were wanted for murder, 550 were
sought on rape or sexual assault charges, and more than 600 had outstanding
arrest warrants for armed robbery, federal officials said Thursday.

Among those captured were 150 gang members and 100 unregistered sex
offenders, said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who held a news
conference with U.S. Marshals Service Director Ben Reyna to announce the
results of ''Operation Falcon'' -- an acronym for Federal And Local Cops
Organized Nationally.

Gonzales, appearing Friday on NBC's ''Today'' show, was asked whether the
roundup amounted to a publicity stunt. ''We now have over 10,000 very
dangerous people off the streets and awaiting their day in court,'' he
replied. ''I consider it a very successful effort. It is only a start.''

''We have developed new relationships, new lines of communication'' with
state and local law enforcement authorities, he said on CNN. ''It's the
first time we've done it on a nationwide basis. We, quite frankly, were
surprised at how effective it was.''

Rivera-Sanchez might still be on the run if not for the crackdown, which
prompted authorities to take a new look at older cases. Marshals in Puerto
Rico realized they had never submitted his fingerprints to the FBI. Once
they did, they found that the man who had been serving a 37-year sentence
for attempted murder, assault and robbery had been arrested twice in
Connecticut under an assumed name.

Others arrested included Eddie Kelly, 24, wanted by Dallas police for
allegedly killing a man by shooting him five times after leaving a drug
house on Feb. 13, and Marcel Baldwin, 21, of Atlanta, who was found beneath
a trap door in his kitchen. He was wanted on charges of assault and sexual
offense against a child.

Nathan T. Speights, 28, of Syracuse, N.Y., was picked up in Baltimore on
Sunday an hour after a warrant was issued for him in connection with the
April 3 killing of Mark Sardella, 26, outside a private motorcycle club in
Syracuse.

Gonzales said more than 70 percent of those picked up had prior arrests for
violent crimes.

''We know from history -- and from the bitter experiences of far too many
victims -- that a fugitive with a rap sheet is more desperate, more
predatory, and more likely to commit the crimes that plague citizens and
communities,'' Gonzales said at the news conference

The number of fugitives caught was at 10,472 Thursday, but officials said
that could change as local police finish processing heavy caseloads from the
past week.

Congress gave the Marshals Service more money and authority to go after
fugitives when it refocused the FBI's mission toward stopping terrorism
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said Marshals Service spokesman David
Turner, noting that the agency now has five permanent regional task forces
to search for fugitives.

The Marshals Service spent $900,000 on the weeklong exercise, most of it to
pay overtime to local and state police. More than 3,000 officers from 960
federal, state and local law enforcement agencies took part.

''Our goal was to find out what impact we'd have in a nationwide effort,''
Reyna said.

Some of those arrested, particularly for the most violent crimes, would have
been high on the marshals' lists no matter when warrants were issued. But
officials said it was important to get state, local and federal officials to
work together on such a broad initiative.

For all of last year, marshals arrested more than 36,000 people wanted on
federal warrants, and worked with state and local authorities in catching
another 31,600 fugitives, according to the Marshals Service's Web site.

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On the Net:

A list of the federal, state and local agencies involved in the crackdown:
www.usmarshals.gov

Justice Department: www.usdoj.gov



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Over 10,000 Are Arrested in Dragnet
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

Published: April 15, 2005

WASHINGTON, April 14 - The Justice Department on Thursday announced the
arrests of more than 10,000 fugitives, many of them accused of violent
crimes like murder, rape, kidnapping and armed robbery, as part of a
weeklong roundup around the country that concluded earlier this week.

The operation netted more fugitives than any other initiative of its kind in
American law enforcement, officials said. The coordinated effort produced a
rate of fugitive arrests more than five times the rate in a typical week
last year.

From dawn on April 4 to midnight last Sunday, some 3,100 law enforcement
officers from 959 federal, state and local agencies fanned out in search of
people wanted on outstanding arrest warrants. Squads of law enforcement
officials at all levels of government routinely conduct such searches almost
daily, but officials said this was the first time a roundup had been tried
on a coordinated, nationwide level.

"These defendants had long rap sheets and they had been free to roam the
streets for far too long," Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said in
announcing the arrests. "We know from history and from the bitter
experiences of far too many victims that a fugitive with a rap sheet is more
desperate, more predatory and more likely to commit the crimes that plague
citizens and communities."

The Justice Department timed the arrests to coincide with National Victims
Rights Week. Officials acknowledged that they had more work to do in
ensuring that fugitives were sought and arrested on a routine basis, but
they defended the strategy of coordinating a single, weeklong initiative.

Bob Finan, an assistant director at the United States Marshals Service who
oversaw the operation, said it would be nearly impossible to conduct such
sweeps routinely because of the drain on manpower and resources with many
officers working 20-hour days during the weeklong program. "We can't keep up
that pace," Mr. Finan said.

The Justice Department said it provided $900,000 to help pay for the
operation, with much of it going toward overtime for local police officers.
Federal officials had expressed hope that they would net 5,000 fugitives and
ended up with double that total.

Those arrested included nearly 4,300 suspects in major drug cases, 1,727
people wanted on assault charges, 638 suspects in armed robberies, 553
suspects in rapes and sexual assaults and 162 suspects in killings,
officials said.

One fugitive in Dallas had been accused of shooting a man five times after
leaving a drug house, officials said. A man in Atlanta, arrested last week
at a makeshift cellar, was sought on assault and sex offense charges and was
listed as one of Atlanta's most wanted fugitives. A fugitive in Portland,
Ore., was wanted on charges of sodomy and sexual abuse against children.

Texas led the way with 902 arrests, followed by Tennessee with 785, Florida
with 685, Ohio with 631, Oklahoma with 565, California with 507, Illinois
with 401, Pennsylvania with 368, Louisiana with 349 and New York with 345.