US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested nearly 300 gang members and gang associates here in the Los Angeles area over the last four months as part of a far-reaching law enforcement operation by ICE that generated more than 1,700 arrests nationwide, according to a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
The arrests are the result of Operation Community Shield, an initiative launched by ICE in 2005 to disrupt and dismantle transnational violent street gangs. As part of the enforcement action, which ended yesterday, ICE teamed with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to target violent street gangs and their criminal associates in 53 cities across 28 states.
During the operation, ICE agents arrested a total of 1,759 gang members, gang associates, criminals and immigration violators, including 293 subjects in the greater Los Angeles area. The Southland enforcement activities focused on targets in five area counties: Los Angeles (168); Riverside/San Bernardino (96); Orange (17) and Ventura (12). More than 70 of those arrested locally during this gang enforcement surge have prior convictions for crimes of violence and nearly 30 of those taken into custody are convicted sex offenders.
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Jim Kouri, CPP, is founder and CEO of Kouri Associates, a homeland security, public safety and political consulting firm. He’s formerly Fifth Vice-President, now a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, a columnist for Examiner.com, a contributor to KGAB radio news, and news director for NewswithViews.com.
He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at St. Peter’s University and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.
Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc.
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