Excerpt
TAMPA, Fla. — Florida law enforcement recovered 163 missing children during a five-day statewide operation, Attorney General James Uthmeier and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced Tuesday.
The children, ranging in age from two months to 17 years old, were located during Operation Statewide Shield, a first-of-its-kind state agency-led initiative focused on finding missing, endangered and exploited children.
Were they waiting so they could get them all in one week? Why not just get them when you know where they are?
I get the desire to swoop in as soon as possible but that often isn’t the most effective option. (Speaking of crime generally) If the suspects know each other then if one goes down the others are likely to go into hiding or destroy evidence. In human trafficking cases that can mean fewer rescues. Also while you may have enough evidence of some crime it might be a relatively minor one instead of one that could put them away for good (think Al Capone getting caught for taxes rather than everything else).
The first operations might’ve spooked the other kidnappers.