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Outstanding Warrants For Dwi Offenders A Problem Searching For

Quantification And Resolution

Number 260 October 2001

U.S. Department of Transportation

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590

Outstanding Warrants For Dwi Offenders A Problem Searching For Quantification And

Resolution

One loophole in the adjudication and sanction process of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) cases is

the number of individuals arrested for DWI who fail to appear (FTA) in court for adjudication or

sanction or fail to comply (FTC) with court ordered sanctions. Usually these inactions lead to a

warrant action. An arrest warrant is an order directing a law enforcement agency to seize an

individual to answer a complaint. While the vast majority of warrants are issued by courts, other

agencies such as parole boards and correction departments are authorized in some states to issue

arrest warrants. Bench warrants are usually issued by a judge for persons who fail to appear in

court. Locating these individuals who are wanted for outstanding warrants has proved difficult in

many places.

Mid-America Research Institute conducted a study for the National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration (NHTSA) to examine the extent of the outstanding DWI warrant problem in

locations across the country. The study examined situations that lead to the issuance of warrants

and identified promising strategies to minimize the outstanding DWI warrant problem.

In some cases, a failure to appear is a deliberate attempt by a defendant to avoid receiving or

fulfilling sanctions. Sometimes, however, such actions are not intentional. They occasionally result

from defendants not receiving or understanding instructions about where and when to appear in

court.

Deliberate FTAs and FTCs are the more important traffic safety concern, but non-deliberate

absences are also a waste of time and resources that could be better spent on other anti-DWI

related activities. Nationwide, the relative magnitude of these two types of absences are not

known.

Documenting the Problem

Many jurisdictions were not able to provide data easily and could not assess how large a problem

may (or may not) exist with FTA and FTC behavior in their community. After contacting many

jurisdictions, warrant data were collected from 19 sites and were supplemented with interviews

with key people about their warrant process. Focus groups were conducted at a regional meeting

of highway safety professionals and visits were made to three sites to learn more about

innovative local programs.

Many Jurisdictions Have No Data

Many jurisdictions do not keep warrant data or do not have systems in place to determine the

extent of the outstanding DWI warrant problem in their community. Many were unable to

distinguish between FTA versus FTC warrants. Sometimes, records on outstanding warrants are

purged from the database when the person contacts the court or is arrested, making it difficult to

learn the true number of FTAs and FTCs and the length of time the warrants were outstanding.

Without available data at all sites, there was no way to estimate the magnitude of the problem

across the country or to compare sites.

It was learned, however, that for many localities, this is a substantial problem, with the number

of outstanding warrants running into the thousands or the tens of thousands. In some cases,

officials were not aware of the problem because the data had not been analyzed previously or, in

other cases, there were no resources available to combat the problem. Law enforcement agencies

often have limited personnel and budgets, and, in many places, warrant squads give priority to

persons wanted for "more serious offenses" than DWI charges. Outstanding warrants for FTC with

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Traffic Tech Publications | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) | U.S. Department of Transportation

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/...ID=c485508b6c7bff00VgnVCM1000002c567798RCRD&orderTrafficTechSelect=3D&trafficTechYearSelect=2001&overrideViewName=Report[5/28/2009 3:15:59 PM]

sanctions usually means non-payment of fines and has resulted in such a large backlog of

outstanding DWI warrants, that alternative solutions are now being explored. Two alternatives are

to target individuals who owe large amounts and then paying for the squad with those funds, or

to hand those cases over to a collection agency.

Methods Law Enforcement Agencies Use to Serve Warrants

Dedicated Warrant Officer(s) -- The primary job of these officers is to serve warrants.

Special Emphasis Squads or "Stings"-- These teams are organized periodically to locate

and serve warrants.

Interagency Cooperative Warrant Squads-- Warrant teams are staffed by a number of law

enforcement agencies who cooperate to serve warrants.

Part of a Full-Fledged, Anti-DWI Program-- Warrant services are handled routinely as a

part of an existing anti-DWI program.

Routine Warrant Service by Arresting Officers-- Warrants are handled by the original

arresting officer or agency.

Innovative Programs

Hancock County, Indiana The overriding problem in this county was offenders who fail to comply

with sanctions, including payment of fines. One officer was hired through a grant to work on the

outstanding warrant problem, not all for DWI cases. Over four years, he has served 1,000

warrants. When fines are paid, money goes back to the county and the program should

eventually pay for itself.

Chemung County, New York: Staff with the STOP DWI program determined that there were many

outstanding warrants and estimated that most of these defaulters owed fines and that if these

fines could be collected, they would pay for the overtime of officers involved in a warrants sweep.

During the first sweep, 14 people with outstanding DWI warrants were picked up and another

110 offenders turned themselves in to avoid arrest. Chemung County plans to conduct three to

four warrant sweeps each year and to publicize the names of those with outstanding DWI

warrants on their web page.

Pierce County, Washington: Law enforcement agencies in Pierce County often work together on

special DWI patrols. One patrol was dedicated to rounding up the outstanding warrants. The

agencies worked with the jails and courts to prepare for the extra number of offenders who would

be arriving and with the media to publicize the effort.

Summary

In many jurisdictions, a substantial number of DWI offenders fall through the cracks and are

never convicted in court or fail to comply with their sanctions. They fail to compensate society or

receive the rehabilitative benefits of their sanctions. Many jurisdictions do not have the data

capabilities to recognize and quantify this problem, nor do they have the resources to effectively

deal with this issue.

Most of the recommendations contained in the report are those that could help local agencies,

such as:

Develop better data systems to identify and track the outstanding DWI problem at the

local, and if possible, state level.

Provide incentives (funding) to law enforcement agencies to focus on outstanding DWI

warrants.

If warrant sweeps are planned, coordinate closely with all relevant agencies.

Focus on the newest warrants first, then as time allows, work on older warrants.

HOW TO ORDER

For a copy of A Study Of Outstanding DWI Warrants (125 pages) write to the Office of

Research and Traffic Records, NHTSA, NTS-31, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC

20590; or send a fax to (202) 366-7096. Amy Berning was the contract manager for this study.

U.S. Department

of Transportation

National Highway

Traffic Safety

Administration

400 Seventh Street, S.W. NTS-31

Washington, DC 20590

Traffic Tech is a publication to disseminate information about traffic safety programs, including

evaluations, innovative programs, and new publications. Feel free to copy it as you wish.

If you would like to receive a copy contact:

Linda Cosgrove, Ph.D., Editor, Evaluation Staff

Traffic Safety Programs

(202) 366-2759, fax (202) 366-7096

E-MAIL: lcosgrove@nhtsa.dot.gov
Traffic Tech Publications | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) | U.S. Department of Transportation

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/...ID=c485508b6c7bff00VgnVCM1000002c567798RCRD&orderTrafficTechSelect=3D&trafficTechYearSelect=2001&overrideViewName=Report[5/28/2009 3:15:59 PM]

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