Los Angeles County Mayor Michael D. Antonovich announced recently that during the month of March, D.I.S.A.R.M., Developing Increased Safety through Arms Reduction Management, Officers confiscated 27 guns and six rifles, over $525,000 in illegal drugs and drug money, and arrested 166 probationers during 1259 unannounced searches of residences, persons, vehicles, and businesses.

The searches were conducted through the Probation Department’s D.I.S.A.R.M. 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.

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Since its implementation in February of 2000, the D.I.S.A.R.M. program has seized over 7,300 weapons and more than $218 million in illegal drugs and drug money, and resulted in 14,659 arrests.  Nearly 10 percent of probationers searched in this program have been found to be out of compliance with their terms of probation.