Received AUG 2 5 2006

Currently, little or no progress is being made in the rate of apprehension of defendants with outstanding felony warrants in San Diego County. Partially Disagree. Of the 18,254 active felony warrants cited in the Grand Jury Report for 2005, members of the San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force served approximately 5,246. Patrol officers and detectives of the San Diego Police Department made an additional 3,039 felony warrant arrests during the same time period, bringing the total to 8,285. It should be noted that of the 18,254 outstanding warrants, 5,417 were San Diego Police Department warrants, of which more than half were apprehended. Prior to January of 2000, the proactive service of arrest warrants was the responsibility of the Marshal's Office. When the Marshal's Office was absorbed into the San Diego County Sheriffs Department in 2002, the Sheriffs Court Services Bureau assumed this role, but focused primarily on civil warrants. Felony warrants are predominantly served by allied law enforcement agencies as they contact individuals in the field and by the concerted efforts of the San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force. CITY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING. C STREET. SAN DIEGO. CALIFORNIA 92101 (619) 236-6330 a~rmlen~ IWdCM - - - - - - - - - - Honorable Janis Sammartino July 20,2006

The Grand Jury finds that this computer program, (offered free to San Diego law enforcement agencies), if used by City and County law enforcement agencies, would definitely increase apprehension of persons with multiple felony warrants. However, some municipalities still do not choose to take advantage of this program. Partially Disagree. The San Diego Police Department is presently taking advantage of the EWarrants application, which is part of a comprehensive information system for Law Enforcement, collectively called SDLAW. EWarrants is the equivalent of a Windows interface that accesses the same data as the current system, but arranges it in a user- friendly (Windows-like) interface. The major difference between the current County warrant system and EWarrants is that, in addition to name queries, EWarrants can search active felony warrants by address, license plate number, social security number, and other personal identifiers. EWarrants desktop software has been deployed throughout the San Diego Police Department. To make this software available to patrol officers in the field, a $5,000.00 hardware upgrade is necessary. Once the hardware upgrade is completed, the timetable for SDLAW's full integration into the patrol force, including testing, training and deployment is a matter of a few months. EWarrant's affect on the rate of felony warrant apprehensions would be dependent upon the unit using it. It should be noted that applications such as EWarrants are a tool. An officer or detective would still have to come into contact with a subject in the course of their duties. Dedicated task forces, such as San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force would realize the greatest benefit from EWarrants as it expands their ability to search for felony warrant subjects.

More informative outreach must be considered by the San Diego Law Enforcement community, such as publication of photos of wanted criminals in neighborhood newspapers, or following the State of Missouri's successful program of roadside billboards showing large photos of wanted felons with multiple outstanding felony warrants. The community response to this effort was outstanding. Partially Disagree. Outreach efforts to increase the public's awareness of wanted subjects has been an ongoing effort by this Department through newspaper articles, the news media, and the Internet. The San Diego Police Department posts its most wanted individuals on their public website. The State of Missouri's use of billboards was restricted to murder suspects, which resulted in ten arrests. Since the reduction of the huge volume of outstanding warrants is the desired result, the impact of the use of billboards would have minimal impact on the overall numbers. Billboards are still a viable option for specific, dangerous suspects who Honorable Janis Sammartino July 20,2006 warrant the expenditure that posting billboards cost (between $1,000 and $10,000 per month depending upon location).

The Grand Jury found that every law enforcement agency in San Diego County has been contacted by the United States Marshal's office and invited to join their San Dieao Regional Task Force. Currently, only the San Diego Sheriffs office has responded positively with the assignment of several deputies to assist with the felony warrant apprehension and other activities. Partially Disagree. The San Diego Police Department joined the San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force in August of 2003, committing one Detective Sergeant and two Detectives. The fifty-member Regional Fugitive Task Force is strongly committed to reducing the number of felony warrants in the County of San Diego and made approximately 5,246 felony warrant arrests in 2005. In addition to their efforts, patrol officers and detectives of this Department made approximately 3,039 felony warrant arrests during the same time period. A severe staffing shortage forced the return of the detective personnel assigned to the San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force on June 2,2006, in order to staff critical investigative units within the Department. As soon as staffing levels are more favorable, we will strongly consider rejoining the Task Force. The Grand Jury Recommends to all Mayor's and Law Enforcement Agencies in San Diego City and County, and the San Diego Board of Supervisors: