WASHINGTON — In an operation that was equal parts police work, public relations and lobbying, the Justice Department said Thursday that it had conducted an unusual weeklong sweep with state and local authorities that led to the arrest of more than 10,000 fugitives wanted for murder, rape, kidnapping, robbery and drug offenses.
The dragnet, which the government said it orchestrated to coincide with National Crime Victims' Rights Week, involved more than 3,100 law enforcement officers from across the country and a cross section of agents from 25 federal agencies, led by the Marshals Service.
The sweep, accompanied by camera crews whose footage was aired on news programs after the arrests were announced, netted 162 murder suspects, 154 alleged gang members and 106 unregistered sex offenders, as well as guns, drugs, cash and property.
The elaborate statistics were rolled out at a news conference at which officials said the exercise was an opportunity to show the benefits of cooperative law enforcement in an age of terrorism -- and to score points with members of Congress.
The roundup was funded under a program that Congress established four years ago requiring the Marshals Service to help state and local authorities clear the streets of the most violent criminals. The program has netted more than 147,000 fugitives.
The arrests represented a fraction of the number of fugitives taken into custody by law enforcement authorities every year, and 1% of the nearly 1 million fugitives in the FBI national database, according to the Marshals Service.
Officials conceded that most if not all the suspects picked up during the weeklong roundup, which began April 4 and ended Sunday, eventually would have been apprehended.
U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales said the effort had yielded "the highest number of arrests ever recorded for a single initiative of its kind."
The operation had its own acronym, FALCON -- for Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally.
Among those taken into custody was an alleged sex offender with prior arrests for arson and drug dealing who was caught in the cellar of a home in Atlanta. Police in Dallas arrested a man sought in connection with a shooting in February.
The arrests included 16 international fugitives, 11 of whom authorities said had committed crimes in the U.S. and fled to countries including Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Britain and Canada.
