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/