About two weeks ago, I covered the announcement that 175 wanted criminals were rounded up in a six day sweep by the US Marshals. The sweep covered Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties and was dubbed Operation Falcon (federal and local cops organized nationally) . . . in it's third year, Falcon took place in 28 cities this time around.



During the bust, two men wanted in Oregon were found sitting in prison cells in other states . . . and ONE man was enlisted and partway through boot camp across the country.



The Marshals tell me that these kind of cases ARE known to happen, because there is no national database available where you can punch in a name and get every crime and warrant associated with an individual.



In FACT, when I visited a local Army recruiting station in Beaverton, Sgt. Marcus Daniels told me that every recruit requires several phone calls.



For example . . . if someone LIVES in Beaverton, but WORKS in Portland, the recruiter has to call Beaverton Police, Beaverton Municipal, Washington County, Multnomah County, Portland Police and Portland Municipal . . . just to START. As a result, if someone was arrested in Denver, Colorado . . . it may get missed.



Dale Ortman with the US Marshals says the man who made it to boot camp was the focus of a secret indictment for sex abuse . . . sealed or secret indictments don't show up on some checks and have to be asked about specifically. Ortman goes on to say that it IS feasible that there are men and/or women serving overseas who are wanted back in the states.



That may not ALWAYS be the case. Sgt. Daniels says a nationwide database IS in the test phase on the east coast. Simply enter a name and social security number and you have access to EVERY potential warrant or crime in a subject's past. However, that database must first pass the east coast tests before reaching the west coast and there is no word on when that might happen.