More than 10,000 fugitives were captured last week in Operation FALCON, an intensive, national operation that combined efforts of federal, state and local authorities.

The operation lasted from April 4-10 and focused on apprehending suspects wanted in homicides, sexual assaults, gang-related crimes, kidnappings, major drug offenses and crimes against children and the elderly.

Such a large and successful effort is undeniably impressive. The fact that so many different agencies could work together to create the largest number of arrests in a single sweep says a lot about the ability of America's law enforcement.

For the American public, this operation likely will elicit positive feelings and increase confidence. Officials fully admit that they expect this to be the case, and an image boost probably was a huge impetus for the massive dragnet.

Still, it seems incredibly likely that many of these fugitives could have been apprehended sooner. Officials certainly didn't discover the location of all of these suspects at the same time. If authorities know where a suspect is, they have a responsibility to make sure they are not able to commit further crimes.

There were 553 suspects arrested for rape or sexual assault. For many women, it might be an unnerving thought that authorities knew about these suspects but waited to arrest them until the operation.

Operation FALCON can be called a success for its tremendous efforts to get suspected criminals off the streets - or perhaps out of a cave under a kitchen as was the case with one suspect.

But it is good to keep in mind that there still are thousands of criminals out there and others who evaded police during the operation that authorities now should focus on.