MILLIONS OF FELONS ON THE LOOSE IN US

Some go uncaught for decades; outmanned police can't keep up

When police arrested Charles Jaynes in the kidnapping and murder of a young
boy, he was already wanted on 75 outstanding warrants in 18 Massachusetts
courts.

Nobody, however, appeared to have been looking for him.

Authorities say the case is far from unique. Throughout the country,
hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of warrants are outstanding for
people wanted on felony offenses. The numbers are stretching the resources
of local police and raising fears that criminals are slipping through the
cracks.

"A lot of the state and local authorities just don't have the money or the
resources" to track down fugitives, said Arthur Roderick, chief of domestic
investigations at the U.S. Marshals Service.

The FBI's National Crime Information Center, which police use for background
checks on suspects, lists 516,000 outstanding warrants, the vast majority
for felonies. Though many cases are solved each year, the list of open cases
has grown from 340,000 in 1990.

The actual number of felony warrants is much higher. Many are never entered
into the national system, often because states don't want to spend the time
and resources on paperwork -- or pay extradition costs if a suspect is
found.

The low percentage of warrants shared with the NCIC also means that most
felony arrest orders won't show up in background checks used for handgun
purchases.

Massachusetts has 70,000 outstanding felony warrants but lists only 2,700 at
the NCIC. Overall, the NCIC estimates it receives less than 20 percent of
all outstanding felony warrants in the country. That would mean there are
upward of 2.5 million felony arrest orders that have never been served.

"This is probably the largest public safety threat we face in the country,"
said Massachusetts state Sen. Cheryl Jacques, who led a review of her
state's warrant system.

"There is no deterrent in the criminal justice system if criminals know that
they can go months, years or decades without ever paying for their first
crime and can go on and commit dozens more."

Jaynes, who was eventually convicted of second-degree murder in the killing
of 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley in 1997, was living at home and holding down a
full-time mechanic's job despite scores of warrants, including an arrest
order for skipping out on parole. An accomplice also was convicted.

A Senate committee headed by Jacques found that a lack of coordination among
the state's computer systems meant thousands of wanted felons were being
allowed to renew driver's licenses and even collect welfare benefits without
police being informed.

"They are interacting with the government without the slightest hassle," she
said.

Local police often conduct sweeps and use innovative stings to lower their
warrant rolls.

In Colorado, for example, police sent out letters to hundreds of wanted
people telling them they'd won tickets to watch the Denver Broncos football
team, said Colorado Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Cantwell. When
they showed up, they were arrested.

Popular television shows such as "America's Most Wanted" have also helped,
but they can highlight only a tiny fraction of all cases, said the U.S.
Marshals' Roderick.

Police generally rely on chance encounters like traffic stops to find
fugitives because so few officers are assigned to pursue wanted people.

"It's quite possible for an individual . . . to live pretty much
anonymously, and unless they do something that brings them to the attention
of authorities, they probably won't be caught," said Jack Grant of the
International Association of Chiefs of Police, based in Alexandria, Va.

In Massachusetts, Jacques is urging more laptop computers in patrol cars,
doubling the state's fugitive squad from six officers to 12 and improving
coordination among state agencies.

"We can't have a system where the chances are basically like the lottery for
a fugitive ever getting caught," she said.

In California, a San Francisco Chronicle report found that almost 223,000
individuals are wanted on felony warrants -- including 2,690 for homicide,
1,470 for sexual assault, and 74,000 for drug offenses.

"These numbers are startling and disturbing and represent a serious defect
in the criminal justice system," California Attorney General Bill Lockyer
told the paper.

Michigan state Sen. William Van Regenmorter said the state, with 24,280
outstanding felony warrants, is also grappling with the problem.

"There are tons of warrants that are unserved, some for some very dangerous
people," he said. "It's a resource issue."

In Colorado, which has 23,600 outstanding felony warrants, most criminals
eventually slip up with a traffic violation or a new crime, Cantwell said.

"But the scary part to me is . . . they will get caught, but how many more
crimes will they have committed?" he said.

"How much damage will they do before they get caught?"