More than 100 men and women with 16 different federal, state or local authorities -- from virtually every law enforcement agency in Alaska -- were involved in the arrests of 45 people wanted on warrants during an operation dubbed "Gangbusters."
"The corrections people were great, you know, we dumped a lot of prisoners on them," said Sgt. Kathy Lacey, head of the Anchorage Police Department's vice unit.
"It's pretty much everything," Lacey said describing the mixture of misdemeanor and felony warrants.
One runaway female juvenile, two stolen guns, two stolen snowmachines and an illegal sawed-off shotgun were recovered, police said. They also found several offenders who'd violated conditions of their probation or parole and some sex offenders who failed to register as such.
Teams showing up at homes to serve warrants ended up dismantling two alleged marijuana grow operations and caught a suspected methamphetamine dealer, Lacey said.
Police personnel from the various agencies worked in mixed teams, Lacey said. Each person on each team had a different background and skill set, she said.
"We had all these different talents, we had everybody, so everybody contributed," she said. "Everybody had their list of people that they were interested in, and we had some warrants we'd been looking for for a year that were picked up during this sweep."
Planning for Operation Gangbusters started in October 2010, Lacey said. It was "intelligence-driven," Lacey said, which she explained meant the arrests were targeted with previous information on the suspects.
"A lot of it was affiliated, validated gang members, people with warrants that may have said they were in gangs," Lacey said. "And it wasn't just gangs, it was across the board, anybody who had a warrant."
"We had a lot of violent offenders, that were assaultive offenders, and those were definitely targeted," she said.
As Lacey and U.S. Marshal David Long ran things from the Emergency Operations Center, the teams worked in the field making arrests for 10 to 12 hours a day, Lacey said. Some of the officers were getting four or five hours of sleep a night before returning to work, she said.
"They kept asking us, 'Why didn't we do this in June?'" Lacey said. "It was cold and windy. The teams were out all night long on all three days, and they were just great."
Nobody celebrated afterward, though, Lacey said. They were too tired. "No, not at all," she said with a laugh.
"Everybody was just like, 'Give me your reports, give me your reports, give me your reports,'" she said. "It was just, 'Turn your paperwork in and go get warm somewhere.'"
The agencies involved included:
• U.S. Attorney's Office
• U.S. Marshal's Service
• Department of Homeland Security
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
• U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
• U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services System
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• State District Attorneys Office
• Alaska State Troopers
• Alaska Department of Corrections
• Anchorage Police Department
• Anchorage Municipal Prosecutors Office
• Wasilla Police Department
• Palmer Police Department
• University of Alaska Anchorage Police Department
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