Operation Falcon Rounds Up Wanted Felons
By Luke Anderson landerson@post-journal.comArticle Photos
Several wanted felons in the area were swept up this week during Operation Falcon, a cooperative effort between state, local and federal law enforcement officers.
The initiative targeted about 50 warrants, mostly for felony charges, in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties. It also went after about 400 such warrants in Erie and Niagara counties.
The operation was led by U.S. Marshals, who teamed with state police, FBI agents, local police forces and county sheriff's deputies to form task forces that worked to apprehend people wanted for felony charges in the target areas.
''The idea behind it is to partner with local, county and state law enforcement, bring resources and look for individuals who have gone unfound for a period of time,'' said Dan Larish, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal.
Larish said one benefit of the operation is to bring superior manpower to bear when trying to apprehend the wanted people, some of whom can be dangerous.
''It's safety in numbers,'' Larish said. ''When you put a team of nine to 10 people together, you're not going to have some of the problems you might have with just two officers trying to serve a warrant.''
On Wednesday, Larish said the operation had led to at least six arrests in two days, with more activity scheduled Thursday.
Out of 50 potential warrants, Larish was encouraged by the preliminary results.
''We knew we weren't going to have the kind of numbers we'd have in Buffalo,'' Larish said.
He also praised area law enforcement's day-to-day warrant operations.
''The Chautauqua and Cattaraugus agencies do a very good job tracking down fugitives themselves. This operation is just a little extra push,'' Larish said. ''We want to arrest as many felons as possible.''
