Ohio's warrants system due for overhaul

SANDUSKY — It's estimated there are more than 500,000 open warrants in Ohio.That's according to research done by a state task force asked to examine the state's warrant system.Established earlier this year by Gov. Mike DeWine, the Ohio Governor's Warrant Task Force recently released a report with recommendations on how to make Ohio's warrant system more effective. The 29-member task force is made up of court officials, law enforcement officials, database system administrators, and others.Prioritizing serious warrantsOhio doesn't any mandates for law enforcement agencies to enter their active warrants into the state's law enforcement database, LEADS, or the FBI's national warrant database, NCIC."While agencies do use their own local warrant systems, many agencies do not enter all of their warrants, or all of their felony warrants, into the state or national databases," the task force's report states.The task force said they want the state government to require agencies to enter "Tier 1" warrants — referring to higher-level felonies like murder, rape and arson — into LEADS and NCIC within 48 hours. Additionally, the task force wants state law enforcement agencies to establish policies for entering all felony warrants into LEADS and NCIC.Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth said that's already happening in Erie County. Sigsworth said when agencies don't enter warrants into those databases, it can create a potentially dangerous situation."If a murder is committed in 'Town A' and the perpetrator gets stopped for a speeding violation in 'Town B,' the officer walking to that car has no idea the perpetrator committed murder, but the perpetrator doesn't know that," Sigsworth said. "If the warrant is not entered, that officer has no idea what they're walking into."Changing the bench warrant processWhen a defendant fails to appear in before a judge, the court issues a bench warrant to arrest them and bring them to their court hearing.Bench warrants account for tens of thousands of Ohio's unserved warrants, according to the report.The task force suggested several ways Ohio could reduce the number of open bench warrants.One way they suggested was to get defendants to come to court more often by redesigning traffic tickets to make it easier for people to understand when they need to be at their hearing. The task force also explored the idea of sending text-message reminders to defendants of the time of their court hearing.Another option listed in the report is finding alternatives to issuing bench warrants for defendants who don't show up to court for low-level misdemeanors. Some ways suggested in the report include putting restrictions on a defendant's driver's, hunting or conceal-carry licenses until the defendant comes to court to have the restriction lifted.Assisting extraditionsLaw enforcement would be able to extradite serious criminal offenders from other states more easily if they received grant funding for that purpose, the report states. The task force recommended the state's Office of Criminal Justice Services make that grant funding available to Ohio police agencies.Sigsworth said it's relatively cheap to extradite someone from a nearby state like Michigan. But expenses increase the further away from Ohio the suspect is — it cost the sheriff's office about $1,700 to extradite an accused drug trafficker from Alabama last year, according to sheriff's office records."I'm a strong proponent of (providing grant funding) to help these agencies out," Sigsworth said.Failure to prosecuteIf an agency doesn't attempt to extradite individuals with warrants for nonviolent misdemeanors and traffic violations who were arrested in another police agency's jurisdiction, the warrant should be canceled, the report states.The task force argued that when an agency fails to extradite these types of defendants before they're released, it constitutes a "failure to prosecute."The task force addressed how some Ohio law enforcement agencies dismiss misdemeanor warrants as "unenforceable" after multiple unsuccessful attempts to serve warrants. They said they were "largely against" this practice.Active Erie County warrants as of June 7• Sandusky police: 1,083• Perkins police: 634• Erie County Sheriff's Office: 486• Huron police: 410• Kelleys Island police: 28• Berlin Heights police: 2• Ohio Veterans Home police: 1• Bay View police: 0• Milan police: 0Reach reporter Brandon Addeo at brandonaddeo@sanduskyregister.com, follow him on Twitter @BrandonAddeo and follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterCommunications officer Elaine Bradford keeps an eye on emergency situations in the dispatch center at the Erie County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017. All of Erie County's warrants are kept on file at the dispatch center.Mike DeWine