More News

To stem a surge in bench warrants issued for minor crimes and traffic citations, Montgomery County police are planning a campaign to ask Latinos to come forward to resolve their charges.

Police want to use $135,000 in federal stimulus money to launch a Spanish-language outreach campaign and to help cover overtime hours of police setting up "turn-in days" on evenings and weekends, said Lt. Mike Mancuso of the county's fugitive section. The grant is awaiting federal and state approval.

Judges in Montgomery County District Court issue more than 1,000 warrants per month for suspects of minor crimes who fail to appear at hearings, according to Mancuso. County police serve those warrants.

As of the end of May, the number of active District Court warrants reached 14,465, Mancuso said. While that is not far above the norm, most of the increase is attributed to warrants issued on people with "Hispanic names," Mancuso said — in all, accounting for 46 percent. The challenge in serving the warrants oftentimes begins with the letter that notifies the person that a warrant has been issued, Mancuso said. Because many immigrants tend to move frequently or give the charging officer incorrect contact information, Mancuso said, making them difficult to find.

"You can't serve your way out of this, you can't just go out and arrest everybody," he said.

The campaign will focus on minor crimes such as disorderly conduct, shoplifting, alcohol violations and traffic offenses that could result in arrests, such as DUI, driving without a license or with a suspended license, he said.

"The majority of our people that are missing court, it's really for minor stuff and it's really going to clog up the system if we don't take care of it," Mancuso said. "… We don't want four or five hundred a year and all of a sudden the number is creeping up on us again."

Scheduled "turn-in days" are a far better alternative than waiting for police to come after them, Mancuso said. If the warrant is served during a traffic stop, for example, the vehicle is towed; if it is served at the person's place of work, it could jeopardize their job.

"This would give them the opportunity to resolve their issues with as little disruption in their lives as possible," Mancuso said.

Similar efforts have worked in the past: About 10 years ago, the number of active warrants swelled to 24,000, Mancuso said. Through turn-in days and by partnering with the Motor Vehicle Administration to suspend licenses when warrants are pending, they cut the number nearly in half, Mancuso said.

The police department is asking officers to get better addresses and a cell phone number for those they charge with minor crimes and traffic citations, and the onus is on the police department to figure out a better system for hyphenated and compound names.

Police introduced the idea at a meeting of Police Chief J. Thomas Manger's Latino advisory committee last month. Some members worried that police were targeting Latinos and were skeptical that the campaign can work because of the Latino community's fear of police because of immigration status.

"The trust is not there right now," said committee member Teresa Wright, an ESOL coordinator in the county school system.

Because the county only refers violent crimes and gun violations to federal immigration agents, Mancuso said people with minor violations can come forward without worrying about their immigration status.

Last week, Gov. Martin O'Malley said he use more than $1 million of federal stimulus money to help local and state law enforcement clear out backlogs of unserved warrants for violent criminals. Those grants could serve 4,000 warrants, according to a statement.