DISARM program blends police resources for safer streets.
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.
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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.