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U.S.
Marshals Service Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team
Receives Crime Stoppers Award
Cincinnati, OH -
The United States Marshals Service Southern Ohio Fugitive
Apprehension Strike Team (SOFAST) received the 2007 Crime Stoppers
Law Enforcement Unit of the Year Award at the annual Cincinnati
Crime Stoppers Awards breakfast held on October 10, 2007. Accepting
the award on behalf of the task force and its multiple federal,
state, and local law enforcement partners was United States Marshal
James Wahlrab, Southern District of Ohio. U.S. Marshal Wahlrab
proudly accepted the award and specifically recognized during his
remarks the sacrifice the Deputy U.S. Marshals and task force
officers and their families make on a daily basis.
U.S. Marshal Wahlrab stated, “The positive tips we receive through
Crime Stoppers and the success of our task force is based upon the
outstanding collaboration of all of the participating law
enforcement agencies, citizens, and media partners.”
In early 2006, the United States Marshals in Southern Ohio began
seeking out other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies
to form a violent fugitive task force in the Cincinnati area. The
United States Marshals have the authority and the jurisdiction to
enforce all of the laws in the United States through statutory
authority and presidential directives. Through innovation and
collaboration with their federal, state and local counterparts, the
U.S. Marshals have formed and lead fugitive task forces throughout
the United States.
On May 15, 2006 the U.S. Marshals Southern Ohio Fugitive
Apprehension Strike Team (SOFAST) made its first arrest. The SOFAST
is a full-time, multi-agency force with deputies, agents, officers
and detectives from:
- Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office
- Cincinnati Police Department
- Warren County Prosecutor’s Office
- Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
(Ohio APA)
- U.S Attorney’s Office
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms &
Explosives (ATF & E)
- U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
- U.S. Marshals Service (USMS)
The leaders of these law
enforcement agencies saw the great potential to improve the general
public’s safety when each department lends their best people in a
collaborated effort to take fugitives and those individuals with
arrest warrants off the street.
SOFAST Mission
Statement
The primary mission of SOFAST is to seek out and arrest, in a
joint and coordinated manner, persons who have outstanding local,
state and/or federal warrants for violent offenses and/or violent
criminal histories. The intent of this joint effort will be to
increase public safety through the location and apprehension of such
violent fugitives.
The mission statement is
similar to Crime Stoppers philosophy which provides a means for
citizens to provide information and to contribute to law enforcement
while remaining anonymous.
SOFAST, in a three way effort with law enforcement, the media and
the general public in the Cincinnati area, have in one year arrested
over 600 felon fugitives (clearing over 1,100 warrants) with no
member of the public, law enforcement or the fugitive being injured.
This effort reinforces the SOFAST Mission Statement and strengthens
our three way bond in making a safe and tactical arrest in our
mission for public safety.
In the first year of operation, it was demonstrated that SOFAST:
- Promotes Communication and Information Sharing
- Assists in elimination of the duplication of efforts
- Consolidates resources dedicated to the fugitive
mission
- Provides nationwide/International networking
No single law
enforcement agency has the personnel, funding, equipment, or
jurisdiction to adequately address the problem of violent crime
committed by career criminals. Only through large-scale,
well-coordinated, cooperative efforts, such as the SOFAST, can law
enforcement agencies hope to gain the resources necessary to track
down fugitives. Today's fugitive in one city may be tomorrow's
violent felon in another.
Additional information about the U.S. Marshals Service can be found
at http://www.usmarshals.gov
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America’s Oldest Federal Law Enforcement Agency
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