Pubdate: Mon, 23 Sep 2002
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2002 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.oklahoman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author: Bryan Dean, The Oklahoman

THOUSANDS OF WARRANTS BACKLOGGED

Some Surrender on Own

More than 40 Sheriff's deputies say the number continues to grow because 
the department charged with serving them doesn't have enough deputies or 
enough money to clear the hundreds of arrest warrants issued every week. 
Deputies in the Oklahoma County Fugitive Squad said they have to choose 
carefully which warrants they serve.

Sgt. Frank Bone, Deputy Larry Grant, Deputy Beverly Matthews and Deputy Jim 
Lilly cruise the streets of Oklahoma County every day, looking for 
fugitives wanted on charges such as embezzlement, assault and battery, and 
murder.

"We try to concentrate on any of them that involve violence," Lilly said. 
"The next thing is the drugs. A large portion of the warrants that include 
violence are a result of somebody trying to feed a drug habit or dealing 
drugs."

Still, the backlog grows.

"There's no way to stay ahead of it," Lilly said. "Certainly, if we had 
unlimited manpower, we could do it. But with the limited number that we 
have it's insurmountable to begin with, and we also have other 
investigations that we get involved in."

Any number of things pull the deputies off warrant duty. When they go to a 
house to serve a warrant, they may find a meth lab or a child being neglected.

"We end up having to follow up on those investigations, so we might be tied 
up for two days after that finishing up the investigation that we initiated 
by knocking on the door," Lilly said.

These cases also require the deputies to make court appearances.

The sheriff's department also conducts warrant sweeps to clear hundreds of 
warrants in one night. The sweeps require about a month of preparation but 
are well worth the hours, Lilly said.

"People who think that they may possibly have a warrant see that on 
television and they think, 'I don't want to be on television going to 
jail,' " Lilly said. "I don't know how much our surrenders increase after a 
warrant sweep, but it is dramatic. It's not just the 200 people we arrest 
that night. We'll end up with an additional 2,000 people that took care of 
what they needed to take care of so that they don't get picked up."

Deputies are working with the state Health Department to clear the warrants 
of the dead. Deputies said they sometimes discover after hours of 
investigation that the person they are searching for has been dead for some 
time.

Even with those efforts, tens of thousands of unserved warrants remain. 
It's a common problem in counties with high populations. Charlotte, N.C., 
similar in size to Oklahoma City, has 36,000 unserved warrants. Baton 
Rouge, La., has 56,000 unserved warrants.

Many counties have dramatically cut their backlogs by buying new computer 
systems and hiring additional staff. Oklahoma County had 60,000 unserved 
warrants until Sheriff John Whetsel put them all on a computer and 
eliminated warrants on those already in custody.

The only thing that is going to have a real effect on Oklahoma County's 
remaining unserved warrants is hiring more deputies and buying new computer 
systems that will help officers locate people more effectively, said Capt. 
Kelly Marshall, commander of the judicial services division and the 
fugitive squad.

Such relief could be on the way. Proponents of a sales tax to help fund the 
Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department and the jail delivered a petition 
Sept. 9 with more than 36,000 signatures. Once those signatures are 
certified, county commissioners will schedule the issue for a special 
election within 60 days.

"I feel like as small as our division is, we use our manpower wisely," 
Marshall said. "I hate that it may come down to this, but we need more 
deputies. We've trimmed all that we can." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake