During the month of February, D.I.S.A.R.M. Officers confiscated 107 weapons – including 48 handguns,23 assault rifles, and 21 rifles/shotguns, $3.9 million in illegal drugs, and arrested 264 probationers during 1,400 unannounced searches of residences, persons, vehicles, and businesses, announced Mayor Michael D. Antonovich.
The searches were conducted through the Probation Department’s D.I.S.A.R.M. (Developing Increased Safety through Arms Reduction Management) 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.
Since its implementation in February of 2000, the D.I.S.A.R.M. program has seized over 7,200 weapons and more than $218 million in illegal drugs and drug money, and resulted in 14,500 arrests. Ten percent of probationers searched in this program have been found to be out of compliance with their terms of probation.