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SALT LAKE CITY -- Nationwide, more than 35,000 fugitives were captured during the month-long Operation FALCON; over 450 of them were wanted here in Utah.
The U.S. Marshals in Utah combined forces with 44 other agencies to make the arrests last month. Among those caught: 26 sex offenders, 46 gang members and two murder suspects.
"The goal of Operation FALCON is simple: to make communities safer," U.S. Marshals Service Director John F. Clark said in a news release Thursday. "Each time we wrap up a FALCON operation in any location, there are less dangerous individuals and fewer threats to the community than before we arrived there. That is very gratifying."
Operation FALCON, which stands for Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally, is in its fifth year. This year's 35,000 arrests is the biggest number of captures in the roundup's history and nearly double the number from last year.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story. Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
