LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) —  When Michigan tells felons they can’t own guns, it means it.

Operation Safe Neighborhoods, the statewide initiative targeting parolees and probationers barred from owning guns, has now confiscated more than 900 illegally possessed firearms since launching in March 2022.

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The program sends parole and probation agents out with local police to conduct compliance checks on high-risk offenders, especially those with past gun crimes. Since then, officers have conducted 9,405 sweeps and made nearly 1,500 arrests tied to illegal weapons, drugs, and other contraband.

“Stopping crime before it happens” is the goal, Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC)  Director Heidi Washington said in a press release. “We will continue to work every day to make sure these illegally possessed firearms are off Michigan streets.”

Michigan has about 1,000 field agents overseeing roughly 40,500 people on supervision. 

“Our communities are safer and those under our supervision are more successful when there is clear accountability for their actions,” Russ Marlan, Deputy Director of Field Operations Administration, said.