Yahoo! News - 10,000 Fugitives Rounded Up in Dragnet
While I'm all for rounding up violent criminals, I'm curious about the numbers here. 162 murder suspects in this sweep- this tells me that they knew where these guys were, but didn't go get them before this? Why not?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. law enforcement officials captured more than 10,000 fugitives around the country in a week-long drive to round up some of the most violent criminals who had previously evaded justice.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Thursday a total of 10,340 fugitives were captured by an operation led by the U.S. Marshals Service between April 4 and April 10 -- about 10 times as many fugitives who were arrested the same period a year ago.

"Fugitives belong behind bars, and the arrests of 10,340 fugitives translates into safer communities," said Ben Reyna, director of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Operation FALCON, which stands for "federal and local cops organized nationally," marked the first time the marshals teamed up with state and local law enforcement in a concentrated, nation-wide effort to round up fugitives.

A total of 162 murder suspects, 553 rape or sexual assault suspects and 154 gang members were picked up during Operation FALCON. In addition, 638 of those arrested were suspected of armed robbery while 68 kidnapping suspects were detained.

That's 1575. What about the others? Parking tickets?

I suspect an ulterior motive here (like usual- the tinfoil hat works just fine, thank you)- and I believe it's this-

But while the marshals reeled off their list of accomplishments, they also admitted that they were hampered because there is no complete, central depository in the United States for all warrants.

That is why it is difficult to keep track of how many fugitives were on the loose around the country. It also makes it difficult to disseminate information on wanted fugitives, in case they are detained for another reason outside the jurisdiction in which they are wanted.

"At some point it would be very important to get all warrants into (the national database)," said Bob Finan, the marshals' assistant director for investigations.

Whaddayawanna bet that there soon will be legislation and funding proposed for a complete and thorough national database of all citizens? (And, for that matter, why not ask ChoicePoint? Heh.)

Seriously, I get a little nervous of "massive roundups" of citizens, even if they are so-called "fugitives". It's way too easy to call someone "criminal" and have them disappear, maybe send 'em to Gitmo under the guise of "national security". We'd better watch this closely.