185 ARRESTS, 105 WEAPONS AND OVER A MILLION DOLLARS IN ILLEGAL DRUGS CONFISCATED IN SEPTEMBER D.I.S.A.R.M SEARCHES

 

PRESS RELEASE

Contact:  Tony Bell, Communications Deputy    Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Office:  (213) 974-5555   Cell: (213) 215-5176    E-mail:  tbell@bos.lacounty.gov

  

    October 21, 2008                                                                                   For Immediate Release

 

185 ARRESTS, 105 WEAPONS AND OVER A MILLION DOLLARS IN ILLEGAL DRUGS CONFISCATED IN SEPTEMBER D.I.S.A.R.M SEARCHES

 

LOS ANGELES COUNTY — During the month of September, D.I.S.A.R.M officers confiscated 105 weapons – including 58 handguns and 17 rifles/shotguns, over a million dollars in illegal drugs, and arrested 185 probationers during 1,940 unannounced searches of residences, persons, vehicles, and businesses, announced Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. 

 

The searches were conducted through the Probation Department’s D.I.S.A.R.M (Developing Increased Safety through Arms Reduction Management) program, initiated by Supervisor Antonovich following the tragic August 1999 shootings at the North Valley Jewish Community Center and the murder of a postal worker by Buford Furrow, an armed felon on probation from Washington State.

 

The D.I.S.A.R.M program entails pairing Deputy Probation Officers with local law enforcement personnel to perform unannounced searches of probationers and their homes, as a condition of probation, and targets the confiscation of guns, drugs, and other contraband.

 

Since its implementation in February of 2000, the D.I.S.A.R.M program has seized 4,578 weapons and more than 305 million dollars in illegal drugs and drug money, and resulted in 10,012 arrests.  10% of probationers in this program have been out of compliance with their terms of probation. 

 

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