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Crime crackdown nets hundreds of arrests in AZ
Officials with the U.S. Marshal's Office say Phoenix was among a number of U.S. cities targeted as part of Operation North Star. FOX 10's Kenzie Beach reports.
PHOENIX - Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Marshals and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, attended a news conference on Oct. 1 to talk about the results of a recent operation that targeted violent crimes in the Phoenix area.
Per a news release, the operation, known as "Operation North Star," identified and captured fugitives "who used firearms in the commission of crimes or signaled high-risk factors for violence."
"On designated weeks between May 10 to September 13, 2024, the U.S. Marshals Service and law enforcement partners of the U.S. Marshals WANTED Task Force in Arizona completed the final phase of the national effort to reduce violent crime," read a portion of the statement.
Officials said the operation resulted in the arrest of 3,421 fugitives throughout the country for various charges, including murder, sexual offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, and firearms violations. In the Phoenix area, officials said 301 violent fugitives were arrested by the Marshals, of which five are murder suspects. Also, 3587 warrants were cleared in the Phoenix area.
In addition, officials said the operation helped take 234 kilograms of narcotics off Valley streets. Of the 234kgs of drugs, 83kgs were fentanyl.
Officials with the U.S. Marshals Office say they will continue to go after those who have committed crimes in and out of the Phoenix area.
"They're not confined to a border of a city. Unfortunately in the Valley, a metroplex like this, we get a lot of bleedover, spillover from city to city," said Marshal Van Bayless with the U.S. Marshals Service. "So while we focus, this wasn't an operation of a saturation in a certain part of Phoenix, it was working targeted individuals. The rest truly occurred all over the Valley, throughout the state. I believe I saw at least 11 other states that people had fled to, that we sent leads out to the other U.S. Marshals task forces throughout the country. And we have at least 12 individuals in Mexico that we're working with the Mexican government on."