By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



Two Gardendale Police officers recently had the chance to be a part of a national suspect roundup.

Det. Terry Shouse and Lt. Marty Brown took part in the U.S. Marshals’ Operation Falcon initiative, which helped net 218 suspects in the Birmingham area.

Gardendale Police Chief Mike Walker said he had been sworn to secrecy about his officers’ involvement prior to last week.

“We participated for a week, and I was very proud that they were a part of this,” he said. “It benefits Gardendale because a lot of our suspects come from outside the city. We help ourselves by helping our sister agencies.”

As part of the nationwide operation, officers from 30 agencies in Shelby and Jefferson counties were deputized by the U.S. Marshals on June 17. The officers were then divided into teams. The sweep took place from June 22-28.

The fugitives sought in Operation Falcon were wanted on a variety of offenses from property crimes and sexual offenses to murder. In addition to the arrests, 286 warrants were also cleared, according to a press release from the U.S. Marshals.

“The talons of Falcon have hit their mark, and once again turned predators into prey,” said U.S. Marshal Martin Keely in the release.

The operation also helped verify and locate more than 1,000 sex offenders in the Birmingham area. Other arrests led to further charges for some suspects

Shouse said the team she was assigned to went as far north as Blount County and as far south as Jemison. She said some of the arrests were made in north Jefferson County.

Keith Blankenship with the U.S. Marshals service said while arrests were made all over north Jefferson County, he could not provide specific information on the cases.

In terms of national statistics, Blankenship said the roundup initiative was one of the more successful campaigns since the initiative began in 2005. Since then, more than 91,000 fugitives have been arrested. In 2009 alone, Operation Falcon netted 35,190 fugitives and cleared more than 47,000 warrants.

He said the success of the sweep is determined by cooperation from federal state, county and municipal authorities.

“It’s critical that we have working relationship between those agencies,” he said. “Having the lines of communication open breaks down the jurisdictional barriers. Any time we can share information, it means more criminals can be taken off the street.”

Blankenship said despite the success of Operation Falcon, the work is never done.

“Falcon pretty much happens every day; it’s a full-time operation,” he said. “We have the same local guys teamed up with our guys daily. It’s not a one week deal for us.”