Department of Corrections dragnet catches 214 fugitives across Minnesota

Throughout a two-week interval in Could, the Minnesota Division of Corrections launched a statewide effort referred to as Operation Clear Sweep to trace down prisoners who had violated the phrases of their supervised launch.

DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell instructed 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the trouble rounded up 214 fugitives who at the moment are in custody.

“We’ve a small fugitive unit of about 13 sworn law enforcement officials who work full-time on this effort of looking for people who find themselves wished on DOC warrants,” Schnell mentioned.

Schnell mentioned his crew of sworn officers labored with county sheriffs, violent crime models and the Minnesota Bureau of Felony Apprehension and didn’t use any so-called no-knock strategies to make the arrests.

“We focus first on the people who find themselves the very best danger,” Schnell mentioned. “That’s the Degree 3 intercourse offenders, these people who find themselves concerned in loss-of-life instances, weapons instances — these are the oldsters we actually wished to deal with, and nobody was injured throughout any of the arrests.”

Schnell mentioned the DOC will conduct a majority of these warrant sweeps each every now and then masking a regional space, however this was the primary time a statewide effort was made to clear some arrest warrants previous to an anticipated improve in summertime crime.

“As a result of what we wish to do is ensure that these people usually are not actively on the market engaged in ongoing prison exercise,” mentioned Schnell.