Pubdate: Thu, 24 June 1999 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Page: A1 - Front Page Copyright: 1999 San Francisco Chronicle Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Forum: http://www.sfgate.com/conferences/ Author: Kenneth Howe, Chronicle Staff Writer Note: Chronicle staff writer Jaxon Van Derbeken contributed to this report. Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99.n665.a03.html REFORM URGED TO CLEAR UP WARRANTS JAM Chronicle Series Prompts Plan To Get Tough On Scofflaws California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and other top officials yesterday called for major reforms to address the state's backlog of 2.5 million unserved warrants. Prompted by a Chronicle series published earlier this week, Lockyer outlined an ambitious, three-point plan to deal with the hundreds of thousands of fugitives, bail jumpers and scofflaws who prowl California's streets. "Serving warrants is a local problem, but the state can assist in many ways," Lockyer said. The attorney general said he had discussed with Governor Gray Davis' office a package of reforms that called for the state to: - -- Withhold public benefits, such as license renewals and welfare checks, from people with outstanding warrants. - -- Use federal funding to upgrade the state's aging computer system that tracks warrants. - -- Generate millions of dollars by acting as the collection agent for counties in cases where warrants could be converted into civil fines. "We need to collect the money from those who owe, and use those funds to track down the serious offenders," said Lockyer. Meanwhile, Assemblyman Mike Honda, D-San Jose, said he wants to "look for ways to triage the warrants" in order to deal with the most serious cases first. "Where we've really got to focus is on the serious felons," said Honda, chairman of the Assembly's Public Safety Committee. And San Francisco Police Chief Fred Lau said he hopes to arrange regional police chief meetings to coordinate efforts to track fugitives and scofflaws. "We want to explore whether we can work together on issues like (Fugitive Recovery Enforcement Teams)," Lau said. In a two-part series, The Chronicle found that California has become swamped with millions of unserved warrants. Most of them are for misdemeanor offenses, but tens of thousands are for violent crimes, including more than 2,600 outstanding homicide warrants. The huge reservoir of warrants has accumulated because law enforcement agencies, strapped for cash and pressed to focus on other priorities, have largely stopped serving warrants except in the most serious offenses. But experts say the state's short-sighted policy threatens public safety and costs the government hundreds of millions of dollars in uncollected fines. By default, the state has fallen back on what critics say is an ineffective "chance encounter" strategy. Felony and serious misdemeanor warrants are entered into a computer system so that when law officers encounter suspects they can check them for warrants and finally serve them. But the chance encounter method often lets those with warrants slip away. Fugitives may not come in contact with the law for years. Moreover, the computer system that holds outstanding warrants is old and its data are woefully incomplete. Lockyer, who made the backlog of unserved warrants an issue in his campaign for office last year, said the state needs to aggressively pursue warrants. By using legislation that allows judges to turn low-level warrants into fines, the state can collect money that can, in turn, be used to modernize the state's computer systems. The attorney general also is looking to federal money, which is part of an appropriation bill in Congress, to fund further improvements in the state's warrant tracking system. Lockyer said that ultimately he wants a system in which officers in their squad cars can immediately display information on people who have outstanding warrants on their beat. "It's shocking that California treats people with outstanding parking tickets harsher than they treat people with outstanding warrants," said Bob Hines, chief of staff for Assemblyman Jim Cunneen, R-San Jose. In the state Senate, Richard Rainey, R-Walnut Creek, said he intends to introduce legislation to start a grant program so that cities and counties can set up special warrant units. "The problem has been a lack of priority, a lack of funding and a lack of manpower," said Rainey, vice chairman of the Senate's Public Safety Committee. The grant program, under the Office of Criminal Justice Planning, would fund pilot programs throughout the state. "We need to set up special units that focus on nothing else but warrants," he said. Lau said he wants to assign more officers to the city's FugitiveRecovery Enforcement Team, currently a two-officer detail that goes after warrants scofflaws. "We want to do larger FRET operations on a more frequent basis," he said. Lau suggested that the night enforcement detail may join ranks with more officers from local station houses to run the stepped up warrant operations. "A lot of the troops are now coming up with suggestions about how to deal with warrant concerns," Lau said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake