In a single month’s time, over 1,100 people were arrested in New Jersey on outstanding warrants. Officials state the majority of these warrants were easily served as the fugitives weren’t hiding out or fleeing at all, merely living life and waiting to get caught.
Attorney General Paula Dow said “They’re sitting at home, on their front porch, hanging out on the block” in regard to the men and women arrested last month. According to NJ.com, a total of 1,298 were arrested, 913 of which were fugitives and 385 were parolees who had absconded supervision.
Despite the fact that those numbers seem high, officials were hoping for more. They chose to crack down from July 1 to August 1, the middle of the summer when violent crime is usually at its highest.
While the effort was targeted at high risk offenders, it no doubt included misdemeanants and non violent offenders as well. Two particular cases of parolees who had absconded, named in warrants, and later accused of 6 murders helped to bring attention to the warrants wasting away without being served.
Dow pointed out that there’s really no reason for warrants if they aren’t going to be enforced. She claimed the unserved warrants only “embolden” the criminals and make them feel even more above the law. It’s true that after a certain amount of time passes and a warrant isn’t served, the person named on that warrant begins to feel as if the system doesn’t care to catch him. But, that simply isn’t the case.
Whether your warrant is for a failure to appear or the police are searching for to to arrest you on suspicious of something as serious as an assault, you will eventually be apprehended and brought in. It’s only a matter of time.
Especially with the extensive police surveillance systems that are expanding every day – even if the police aren’t actively searching for you, it is incredibly easy to fall into their security web while minding your own business.
When you know you have a warrant out for your arrest, your first reaction may be to hide, to “lay low” as if the problems will pass. The only way a warrant will “pass”, however, is once it’s served. So, whether you turn yourself in or wait to get caught, you will eventually have to answer to the charges against you.
Knowing how to handle a warrant is difficult. Contacting a defense attorney is a smart first step, though. Contact me today and we can discuss the charges against you and the best way to deal with the warrant.
Almost certainly, we will want to figure out the best plan to turn yourself in and make the warrant go away with minimal damage.
In some cases with old warrants, the police may not even be able to prove the underlying charges. So you can
But if you are picked up by the police, you will lose most of your leverage to fix this problem and will find yourself in jail, when it is possible the situation could have been fixed quite painlessly.
Together we can figure out the best way to handle your case and how to negotiate the best outcome possible. From drug charges to serious assaults—I can help.