10,340 people arrested in just 6 days - WTF?

[mikelewis]

I xml BBC and this story flashed across the ticker. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4446837.stm

US Police catch 10,000 fugitives"

Snip-

"US police arrest more than 10,000 fugitives in just six days, in what they say is the largest operation of its kind in US history. More than 3,000 federal and local officers arrested 10,340 people during Operation Falcon, from 4-10 April.

Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales said law enforcement officers primarily targeted violent offenders. The number is about 10 times as many fugitives as were arrested in the same period last year.

Now normally, I would say this is a good thing but this seems like an awefully large number of people to be caught up in the police nets.

They list a total of 1,575 people arrested. And this is thier crimes. "A total of 162 murder suspects, 553 rape or sexual assault suspects and 154 gang members were arrested, US Marshals said. In addition, 638 armed robbery suspects and 68 kidnapping suspects were held."

So what were all of the other 8,765 people arrested for in Operation Falcon? Is there any relation to any political agenda that may coincide with this crack-down? This is an extremely large amount of people to get nabbed in this drag net. If these people were fugitives, how did they track them down so easily? If they were this easy to catch, why weren't they caught earlier? What is going to be the impact on our court system? Is there any relation to the recent hearings on the Patriot Act? Something smells fishy about this, it may just be my overactive imagination but can you blame me?

Here's a link to the U.S. Marshalls website, http://www.usdoj.gov/marshals/

[mzmolly]

1. I wonder what the "cost to taxpayers" was?

:eyes:

[mikelewis]

14. I wonder how many Patriot Act sponsored sneak and peaks they performed.

[thecai]

39. The Cost....

If they all get convicted, (most likely), the cost of incarceration will be approx. $23,000-$50,000 per inmate, per year, of our tax-dollars, (depending upon which State they are convicted in). That does not include the costs of the investigations, the arrests, the pre-trial incarceration, court costs, etc.

[babylonsister]

2. This was the lead story on ABC tonight.

That's a lot of people!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. How many of these...

Will simply gum up the courts and be thrown out because they are simply bad arrests and cases?

You are correct: what is not being revealed is far more telling.

[rodeodance]

4. big story on CBS also--Gonzalos giving a news conference about it

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

9. What is he saying?

n/t

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. I hope all of them are actually guilty of something illegal

and not "patriot act" minutea. I had seen the story elsewhere but seeing it here kicked in the sceptic alert (and a momentary chill).

[politicaholic]

6. Whoa! I'm glad we have this transparent democracy...

Holy crap! Gonzales goin' Gestapo on our asses.

Remember when that incompetant boob John Ashcroft was around? Am I starting to miss him? OH GOD!! Get it off, get it off...

[ReadTomPaine]

17. "Goin' Gestapo" - good phrase.

Consider this a dry run for the main event, coming soon at a hometown near you.



RTP

[Clark2008]

7. According to Countdown, it was an idea dreamed up by the

US Marshal Service to prove to Congress it could do this sort of work - an idea to get more money.
I forget how much they said it cost, but the vast majority of the arrests were drug-related.

[Selteri]

10. If the majority of them are drug related; I'm left to wonder...

How many of them were busted for Pot charges of some sort and how many of them were the real dangerous drugs like Meth.

[politicaholic]

19. Wait a second, they're not sending Tommy Chong back are they?

The meth guys run too fast, the PCP guys fight back, and the crack guys stink up the back seat, so they HAVE to go for pot heads.

[zann725]

38. "Marshall Service" OR "Homeland Security?"

Has anyone else recently received an email recruiting for Homeland Security positions? I receive two or three of them (about a month ago now)...on my MSN Hotmail email address ONLY. It was a full-color ad, with pictures of official-looking uniformed law-enforcement officers (male and female).

Needless to say, I quickly marked it as "spam," and blocked future receipt of that ad after the second time I received it.

Did anyone else get a similar email? Downright scarey.

[OneTwentyoNine]

8. What bullshit,most likely a load of unpaid speeding tickets.....

brought the Feds to your door. Or maybe some are deadbeat dads etc...There aren't 10,000 violent fugitives running around the US.

What a joke....

[mikelewis]

12. Actually, the scary thing is there may be and they just didn't want to...

catch them. Obviously, they can. If they can be so successful in 6 days, why haven't they been this successful in the past? If they can find over 10,000 in 6 days, how many could they find in 60 or 360?

A fugitive, by definition, is in hiding and probably difficult to find. What tools did they employ to find these hidden criminals? Sounds a bit too much like a police state for my liking.

[OneTwentyoNine]

15. True,but my point is it can be for any Mickey Mouse offense....

Its obvious how they'll spin this nonsense---they'll play up all these arrests as the most evil,vicious murderers/killers/rapists in the US.

In reality it could be a fugitive who's running from not paying child support,loads of traffic tickets etc....

I'll love to see how many were really violent offenders.

[Clark2008]

32. In my opinion, a deadbeat dad IS a violent fugitive - more for

what he breeds (poverty upon his children) than for anything he's physically doing that might or might not be violent. Poverty is the root cause for a lot of blue-collar crime.

However, most of these arrests were drug-related.

[sellitman]

11. More Felon purges for the next election!!!!!

10,000 less Democrats!! Don't you guys get it?

[mikelewis]

13. No shit... good point

[orpupilofnature57]

16. Operation Fall-on, is just another way to blur the lines, how many corp..

Criminals, has this idiot prosecuted.

[zann725]

37. Yes, but remember...they DO have Martha Stewart "ankled."

No we're all safe.

[Fire Walk With Me]

18. Maybe these guys could catch Bin Laden.

Bush sure can't. Does he even remember?

[mikelewis]

21. Who? Oh.... No, we're not really that concerned about him especially...

since if we caught him, people might not support everlasting war. Besides, then they may have to prove he did it and well... that may be a bit difficult since it seems highly unlikely he could have.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

20. 10,000 aressts need due process and it will have judges working HARD .....

was wondering if this wasn't a payback to judges for the Schiavo thing?

[mikelewis]

23. I doubt that but it would certain muddle things up a but for the courts.

No, this is about showing the success of the Patriot Act. Any court room violence would be a bonus for Delay and the gang.

[zann725]

36. What makes you think these people will get "due process?"

We're talking Gonzales, Negroponte, DeLay, Shrub, Cheney.

Whether indeed this many people were arrested, the point IS it was meant to frighten all us "sheeple."

Scarey, scarey stuff.

[conservdem]

22. I too would like to the answer to your question about:

"If they were this easy to catch, why weren't they caught earlier?"

[mikelewis]

24. April 5, 2005 - Attorney general defends Patriot Act

Gonzales tells Senate panel he is 'open to suggestions'
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/05/patriot.act/

Gee - no connection here folks!

[orpupilofnature57]

26. Dem's biggest wound, in battle to be Progressive, no need to sing, no choir

[mikelewis]

25. Anyone know what the current number of arrests are in America?

What impact would 10,000 more have on this percentage?

[Warren Stupidity]

27. practice run for the real thing

So they are training teams to conduct nationwide mass arrests, making sure they have the logistics all set.

Gee I wonder why they would be doing that?

[Algorem]

33. bet you're right

[Massacure]

28. 40,000 people are arested a day in the U.S. 10,000 a week isn't a lot.

I bet ya ten brownie points Gonzalez is an attention whore.

[mikelewis]

30. Right but these people are described as fugitives

These are people who have been convicted but haven't served thier sentence. Bail Jumpers, escapees, no shows for court dates etc. The rate of capture for these people is much lower. Attention whore or not, this is a very large number of people to capture in this demographic.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

45. these were Federal arrests...not state or county biddness.these will swamp

fed judges courts...payback for Scvhiavo

[Cuban_Liberal]

29. Lots of parole violations, bail jumpers, etc., too.

Not all 10K were arrested on new charges.

[Book Lover]

31. Any of them have the surname Bin Laden?

Then I fail to understand why I should be impressed. And your point about the unidentified charges against the other 8,765 citizens is *very* well-taken.

[zann725]

34. My thoughts exactly! Thanks for starting a thread on it.

I heard it on AAR news, and I was appalled by what I thought was a "1,000" number in less than a week. Then I heard it repeated as "10,000"...in the same sentence as "Gonzalez," and I thougt OMG!!

If they're rounding people up that quick (an average of 200 per state)...they are NOT giving "due process," they're literally lynching people. I don't believe for a second that there were that many serious criminals un-arrested. And how could they possibly have tracked down and booked them all so quickly...with such vast vudget cuts? The article says they were arrested by "Sheriffs?" Or "Homeland Security" personnel. My guess is most of these essentially minority, powerless people will not even get the benefit of a Public Defender. I also started wondering where they'd "house" all these 10,000 prisoners. Certainly NOT at local jails (not enough room or local funding). Do they plan to ship them overseas for incarceration in Cuba or wherever? Or will they put them in all those Detention Camps we've discussed which have been built all over the country? And once they're "captured" and wrongly accused, they'll be "free labor" or perhaps they plan to work toward "clearing their record" by enlisting in the Military? That would help out the recent shortage in Enlistees.

This sounds so predatorial. And so quick.

[leftofthedial]

35. practice for the big liberal, er, "terra-ist"

roundup

next phase of the coup

[Radical Activist]

40. Funny how there were tens of thousands in a protest last week

and this is how the US responds. I can't believe there's no connection there.

[Disturbed]

41. A grand show to point out that the police

can get the job done when the actually want to do so. A practice run for when Martial Law is announced.

[rhite5]

43. What makes you think Martial Law will be announced in advance?

[thecai]

42. Kick n/t

[Lone_Wolf]

44. It was a practice run for future mass arrests of political dissidents...

Stormtrooper Training 101.