DeWine commits to arrest-warrant reforms
Governor makes domestic violence policy a priority.
Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order Wednesday that assigns criminal-justice experts from across the state the task of reforming Ohio’s arrest-warrant system.
The governor, one month after taking office, was following through on a promise to take on problems with unserved warrants that an investigation by The Dispatch identified in a series of stories in December. The newspaper found more than 5.7 million open arrest warrants in 27 states that provided data, including nearly 240,000 for violent crimes ranging from domestic violence to murder.
“The whole question about how we approach these warrants, how we prioritize them, should be driven by public safety,” DeWine told The Dispatch on Wednesday
“The bottom line is there are certain warrants where the person is charged with such a serious crime that it’s imperative that we get them into the hands quickly of law enforcement officers who are going to actively search for that person.”
DeWine said he hopes to hear specific recommendations by the first week of June — preferably sooner.
In Ohio, The Dispatch found more than 309,000 open-warrant cases in courts in the state’s six largest urban counties and the six suburban counties surrounding Columbus.
That included more than 23,000 warrants in cases involving violence or weapons. Police, deputies, U.S. marshals, judges, prosecutors and court clerks all said that the system is drowning in warrants, and that some means of prioritizing and pursuing the most dangerous fugitives is needed.
The series is available online at Dispatch.com/ wanted.
DeWine is adding several people to an existing panel that was examining how local and state officials submit warrants and other law enforcement data to a federal crime database, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The panel will continue that mission while also taking a broader look at the warrant system, according to a news release Wednesday from the governor’s office:
“The Governor’s Warrant Task Force will make recommendations regarding the prioritization of warrants for serious offenders and threats to public safety; the substantial volume of outstanding warrants in Ohio; the mass issuance of warrants by courts across Ohio; and best practices for serving outstanding warrants,” the release said.
DeWine appointed his chief criminal-justice adviser, former Clark County Prosecutor Andy Wilson, to lead the task force, whose 26 members include Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien. Added by DeWine were Jim Cyphers, assistant chief for the U.S. Marshals Service’s Southern District of Ohio office; and Nicole Elliott, LEADS operator for the Clark County sheriff ’s office. LEADS, the Law Enforcement Automated Data System, is the database that Ohio law-enforcement officials use to share warrants and other information.
Among The Dispatch’s findings in Ohio: Local police agencies, including those in Franklin County, often don’t enter warrants — even for violent crimes — into LEADS. That means that people wanted for such crimes as domestic violence and assault might not be arrested because officers outside the jurisdiction where the warrant was issued have no way to know they’re fugitives.
Cyphers, of the U.S. Marshals Service, said one key for the committee will be creating a cooperative environment that involves hundreds of agencies across the state.
“This speaks highly of the governor’s office to put the right group of people together and fix this,” Cyphers said.
“If your daughter or family member has been raped or murdered, and the person hasn’t been caught yet, you are always living with that. People should have that closure.”
The task force’s recommendations will be shared with the Ohio Supreme Court and legislators, DeWine said, because changes probably would require action in the courts and in state law.
Although DeWine is deferring to the task force’s expertise and waiting to see what its members propose, he also said he’s especially interested in making warrants for domestic violence a higher priority.
“My experience with domestic violence as a prosecutor shows that these individuals can be extremely dangerous,” DeWine said.
The Dispatch found that in the 22 states that separately designated domestic violence cases, there were nearly 56,000 open arrest warrants for such crimes.
In Ohio, The Dispatch found nearly 10,000 open arrest warrants for domestic violence in a survey of court records in the state’s six largest urban counties, including Franklin, and the six counties surrounding Franklin County.
On Wednesday afternoon, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein’s office announced that Columbus police had rounded up 11 people wanted on domestic violence warrants during a sweep from Feb. 2 to 4.
Officers were working off a list that prioritized the 50 most dangerous domestic-violence defendants, a news release from the office said.
It’s the kind of program that DeWine’s panel might consider for statewide use.
“I think it’s infuriating that there can be a warrant for someone, particularly for a serious crime, that’s fallen through the cracks and they aren’t being looked for,” the governor said.