132 ARRESTS, 100 WEAPONS AND $245,000 IN ILLEGAL DRUGS CONFISCATED IN DECEMBER 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

 

 

   January 21, 2009                                                                                                       For Immediate Release

 

132 ARRESTS, 100 WEAPONS AND $245,000 IN ILLEGAL DRUGS CONFISCATED IN DECEMBER D.I.S.A.R.M. SEARCHES

 

LOS ANGELES COUNTY — During the month of December, D.I.S.A.R.M officers confiscated 100 weapons – including 50 handguns and 20 rifles/shotguns, $245,000 in illegal drugs, and arrested 132 probationers during 2,046 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 4,856 weapons and more than 306 million dollars in illegal drugs and drug money, and resulted in 10,446 arrests.  10% of probationers in this program have been out of compliance with their terms of probation. 

 

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