Sheriff’s Office: Lots of warrants, limited resources

Limited resources and the large number of warrants issued each year are making it hard for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office fugitive unit to keep up with the increasing demand for serving misdemeanor arrest warrants, according to the department.

“The HCSO fugitive unit has eight full-time detectives dedicated to serving criminal warrants,” J. Matt Lea, the Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said by email. “Due to the high volume of warrants issued every year, our fugitive unit personnel must be very deliberate in how they serve warrants.”

There are approximately 18,000 warrants from previous years in the database that have yet to be served, with an additional 8,950 warrants issued for the year so far, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

“While our personnel attempt to serve warrants as quickly and efficiently as possible, with the limited resources we have, it is difficult to keep up with the volume of new warrants,” Lea said.

Including the eight full-time detectives, the fugitive unit has 20 people. That number includes part-time detectives who are tasked with serving warrants for the Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies in the county, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The fugitive unit also serves warrants for outside agencies, such as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

“The fugitive unit also supports the Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies in locating and apprehending individuals with outstanding warrants and for extraditing fugitives across the nation and the state,” Lea said. “Altogether, the HCSO fugitive unit is responsible for serving all warrants issued in Hamilton County and in the municipalities within the county’s jurisdiction.”

In Hamilton County, records of sworn affidavits are kept at the Criminal Court Clerk’s Office. The Clerk’s Office also issues case numbers to all arrest warrants issued by the magistrate.

Hamilton County Criminal Court Clerk Vince Dean and General Sessions Clerk’s Office Administrator Alicia Merriwether met with the Times Free Press on Oct. 31 at the clerk’s office to explain the process.

“It (the case) is first presented to the magistrate, and they determine probable cause, and once they determine probable cause, we create the documents, create the case numbers, and we house the affidavits of complaint and the warrants go to the fugitive division,” Merriwether said.

Merriwether said the Clerk’s Office only houses warrants issued within the unincorporated parts of the county, with municipalities such as Collegedale, Red Bank and Soddy-Daisy keeping their own records. Dean said the clerk’s office does not notify individuals of any warrants issued to them.

“We don’t operate a notification system. All we do is handle the paperwork,” Dean said. “That’s why the warrant goes out to the fugitive division, because they will go out to find them. They’re responsible for bringing the body in.”

While the Sheriff’s Office does not have an automatic notification system, people can check to see whether there is an active warrant for their arrest.

“While there is no formal notification process conducted through the HCSO, we do offer a free, online portal where people can search for open warrants,” Lea said.

A manual notification begins with detectives prompting a computer to do a search of an area for outstanding warrants. After the system returns with the search results, calls are then placed to those who have the outstanding warrants.

Almost all arrest warrants are issued by a magistrate once they are presented with information gathered during an investigation. The magistrate reviews the material produced during the investigation and considers whether there is enough evidence to establish probable cause. If so, the arrest warrant is then issued, according to the Hamilton County Chief Magistrate Lorrie Miller.

Arrest warrants can also be issued if a person does not show up to their assigned court date. If a person fails to appear, the judge can issue the warrant at the time of the scheduled hearing.

“We will record it (the order) and give it to the fugitive division, physically give them the document, it sits on their file until an officer picks the person up and says, ‘Oh, you have a warrant for no show,’” Dean said. “Then the officer will sign the paperwork, and it (the order) will come back to us.”

Dean and Merriwether said the fugitive division will bring “expired” misdemeanor warrants that have reached or passed the five-year mark to their office to be purged. A person can’t be arrested on an expired misdemeanor warrant.

While the residents of Hamilton County can check if they have an outstanding warrant against them, by checking the Hamilton County website, another way of finding out if there is a warrant out for an arrest is when an officer performs a traffic stop.

The law enforcement officer will “call our office, but we don’t have the warrant, and we turn around and call the Sheriff’s Office, because they have the warrant,” Dean said.

At the time of a traffic stop, the officer will run the person’s data through the system. If it flags that the person has an open warrant, the officer then makes a call to further verify that the warrant is still within the statute of limitations. If the warrant is valid, the officer will make an arrest. If the warrant is expired, the officer will disregard it.

To check if there is a warrant out for your arrest visit bit.ly/HCwarrant.