I read recently from a Bureau of Justice Statistics report that U.S. residents age 12 and older experienced an estimated 25 million violent and property crimes in 2006. Together, we have some work to do and things don’t seem to be getting better.

I love your name: Crime Stoppers! If we came up with your name in Washington, there is no telling what it would be…definitely not so concise and direct. It might be something like: The National Organization to Limit Violent Behavior Through Citizen Involvement.

Sadly today, it seems fewer people want to get involved in stopping crime. I am pleased to be among a group of people who share a passion and desire to do something about it.

Many people look to blame someone or something for violence and crime in America. I remember a reporter asking me recently at a national press conference where we announced the apprehension of several thousand of America’s most wanted thugs, “Aren’t there hundreds of thousands of wanted people? Does this operation really make a difference?”

Well, we could do nothing – and be blamed for that – or, we could get going and make every arrest we can. Try telling a mom and dad who’s loved one was killed in a random robbery or homicide that we should not pursue violent criminals.

I am always heartened when I get a letter from a victim of a violent crime who says, if it wasn’t for you guys going out and pursuing the suspect, we would never get the peace of mind that allows us to know he or she is behind bars and can no longer hurt anyone.

The most gratifying moments in my job come, sometimes late at night, when my phone rings and someone on the other end says the three words I have come to love: “We got him.”
I want to tell you a little bit about what we do in the U.S. Marshals Service. We were born in 1789 when President George Washington appointed the first 13 U.S. Marshals. We have been stopping crime ever since that date, often with the help of tips from the public. Today, with technology, that is done through our website, the telephone and the use of the media and television programs such as America’s Most Wanted.

It was not unusual for frontier Marshals to receive a tip on the hiding-place of some notorious criminal. A good example of this was the capture of William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, by Pat Garrett in December of 1880.  At this time, the Kid had hardened his criminal career to include counterfeiting and rustling in addition to murder.  A tip by a cowhand reached Garrett that the Kid was hiding in a remote area in the New Mexico Territory called Stinking Springs.  Garrett assembled a posse and surrounded a stone house where the Kid and two associates – Charlie Bowdre and Tom O’Folliard – were hiding. 

After a shootout that left both Bowdre and O’Folliard dead, the Kid surrendered.  He was taken to Las Vegas, New Mexico Territory and later to Santa Fe, where he was jailed awaiting trial.  Sadly, he later escaped and killed two of our deputies after the trial in April 1881.
Maybe you have seen the U.S. Marshals portrayed in modern movies such as The Fugitive, Con Air and Eraser, or in old Westerns with John Wayne or Gary Cooper.

We are the best fugitive hunters in the land. Last year, nearly 100,000 state, local and federal fugitives were apprehended all across America and even some from other countries. By the end of September, we will have brought over 800 alleged criminals back to the United States to face justice through our national extradition program. We can rightfully claim the title of “Long Arm of the Law.”

We run the Witness Protection Program. Under this program, witnesses who come forward to help law enforcement are given protection, often from the organized crime or gang members who want to kill them.

We protect federal judges and Supreme Court Justices.

We maintain care and custody of 57,000 pretrial detainees.

We operate the real “Con Air.”

We manage the Asset Forfeiture Program.

Also, we have special units such as our Technical Operations Group and Special Operations Group and we are sometimes called upon by the Attorney General to enforce orders.

Let me talk a bit about violent crime and what we are doing about it. During the month of June we completed our fifth “Operation FALCON.” The success of FALCON is working together: Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally. In this case we had about 5,000 federal, state and local cops from nearly 1500 different law enforcement agencies joining hands for a single mission: locate, arrest and take to jail as many violent offenders as we can find. And find they did.

Here is some news you can use; we arrested 19,380 violent criminals who collectively had over 94,000 prior arrests. The arrests included nearly 1100 sex offenders, 388 gang members, and 161 murder suspects. This is three offender groups worth getting off the street.

Think for a moment about the impact this slice of social misfits and low-lifes had on your communities. Think about the victims left in their wake.

There is estimated to be more than two million wanted persons in the United States. While we may never catch every one, our goal is to pursue them all. I am a strong advocate of police/community relations where citizens help the police find wanted people.

How can law enforcement and Crime Stoppers do even more? Communication: Use of Billboards for Wanted Suspects, Tip Lines and Rewards are great tools. We must use the media to help our cause. And we must build and maintain our strong partnerships.

Keep up what you are doing. I applaud your work and your community service. So often today, no one wants to get involved. You do. Crime Stoppers is making a difference.

Let’s commit to each other to have an “attitude” about crime in our country that we are not going to take it any more.

Your work is vital and important. At the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial in Washington, DC, where sadly thousands of names are engraved in granite to help us remember those officers who have laid down their lives protecting us, an inscription from the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 28, verse 1 reads: “The wicked flee when no one is pursuing them, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”

I encourage you all to be bold as the lion and pursue justice as you are doing through the fine work of Crime Stoppers.

Thank you for allowing me to share a few thoughts today. It is my hope that Crime Stoppers will continue to prosper and grow both nationally and internationally. Your work is vital to our national security and it fosters great police – community relations. Let there be no mistake; you are making a difference. May God bless you all for what you do.