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LA Authorities Confiscate Weapons, Drugs In Probation Violation Searches

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Law enforcement officers confiscated 107 weapons and $3.9 million in illegal drugs during unannounced probationer searches last month, a county supervisor announced Tuesday.

Probationers are subject to unscheduled searches -- including their homes, vehicles and businesses -- as a condition of probation.

Los Angeles County Probation Department personnel joined with local law enforcement to make 1,400 such searches in February and arrested 264 probationers under a program dubbed D.I.S.A.R.M. (Developing Increased Safety through Arms Reduction Management.

The program was initiated in response to a shooting rampage by Buford Furrow, who was on probation when he shot and wounded five people at the North Valley Jewish Community Center and then killed a Southland postal worker in August 1999.

Since February 2000, D.I.S.A.R.M. officers have seized more than 7,200 weapons, $218 million in illegal drugs and drug money and made about 14,500 arrests.

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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