Department of Corrections dragnet catches 214 fugitives across Minnesota

During a two-week period in May, the Minnesota Department of Corrections launched a statewide effort called Operation Clean Sweep to track down prisoners who had violated the terms of their supervised release.

DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the effort rounded up 214 fugitives who are now in custody.

“We have a small fugitive unit of about 13 sworn police officers who work full-time in this effort of seeking people who are wanted on DOC warrants,” Schnell said.

Schnell said his team of sworn officers worked with county sheriffs, violent crime units and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and did not use any so-called no-knock methods to make the arrests.

“We focus first on the people who are the highest risk,” Schnell said. “That’s the Level 3 sex offenders, those people who are involved in loss-of-life cases, weapons cases — these are the folks we really wanted to focus on, and no one was injured during any of the arrests.”

Schnell said the DOC will conduct these types of warrant sweeps every now and again covering a regional area, but this was the first time a statewide effort was made to clear some arrest warrants prior to an expected increase in summertime crime.

“Because what we want to do is make sure these folks are not actively out there engaged in ongoing criminal activity,” said Schnell.