CAPTURING FUGITIVES -- HOW THE SYSTEM FAILS

THAT CALIFORNIA has nearly 2.6 million unserved arrest warrants is shocking
and dangerous; that in most cases no police agency is even looking for the
criminal suspects is a scandal.

In a Chronicle series last week, staff writers Kenneth Howe and Erin
Hallissy reported hundreds of thousands of known criminals remain on the
street free to pursue their outlaw careers because an antiquated warrant
system has become overwhelmed.

Warrants are court-ordered commands to arrest criminal suspects or people
who have violated terms of their parole or probation. Except in the worst
and most violent cases, however, overburdened law enforcement agencies have
largely given up the chore of serving warrants.

When warrants are not served and arrests not made, the public is exposed to
the criminal and violent behavior of street-wise fugitives who know police
agencies do not have the manpower, funds or inclination to track down
minor-league criminals, bail jumpers and scofflaws.

"It's a cataclysmic breakdown of the law enforcement system,'' says San
Diego Judge Larry Stirling.

But California cops are so swamped that felony and misdemeanor warrants are
entered into computer tracking systems with the hope fugitives will be
nabbed during traffic stops and other investigations when officers run
routine background checks.

The "chance encounter'' approach allows wanted suspects and known criminals
to remain at large to terrorize communities and commit more crimes as
police depend on sheer luck to catch them. In most cases the chance
encounter never happens.

"The skeleton in the closet for law enforcement agencies is . . . that on
lower-level crimes, if you're arrested and let free, you can walk off and
not go to court and nobody's going to go out and arrest you,'' says Contra
Costa County District Attorney Gary Yancey.

Although no one knows the exact number of fugitives in California, the
California Department of Justice has a database of about 680,000 wanted
hoodlums at large, some on multiple warrants.

The fugitive list is a rogues' gallery of lowlifes who beat their wives,
drive drunk, burglarize homes and commit an array of other crimes,
misdemeanors and felonies.

While most unserved warrants are for minor offenses, the Justice Department
says 223,000 perps are wanted for serious felonies, including 2,600 for
homicide, 74,000 for drug charges, 39,000 for violating parole or
probation, 6,600 for assault and 1,400 for rape.

That is far too many dangerous people on the loose to be tolerated by law
enforcement or the beleaguered citizenry.

(In the nine-county Bay Area there are about 238,000 oustanding warrants.
San Francisco accounts for 28,000 unserved felony and misdemeanor warrants,
not counting 50,000 traffic warrants. Only two San Francisco cops serve
warrants fulltime.)

State law requires all warrants to be served, but the reality is that most
police agencies have cut back warrant details in favor of responding to 911
calls, violent crimes and gang activity.

Reasons for the flood of unserved warrants are many and complex, including
a huge rise in violent crime and drug offenses, overcrowded prisons, jammed
courts, inadequate computer systems and a realization by crooks they can
get away with ignoring court orders.

So what can be done to fix a broken system? California Attorney General
Bill Lockyer, who made unserved warrants a priority in his campaign for
office, said he plans to submit a package of proposals to the governor to
help clear the log jam.

However, details of his plan were vague when he spoke to The Chronicle
editorial board last week.

Although California has the largest number of warrant scofflaws, the
problem exists across the country. Other states have taken measures to
reform their warrant systems, which could be models for California.

The most promising designs include a statewide computer database of all
outstanding criminal warrants and multiple warrants, with special attention
to violent offenders.

Other commonsense reforms include refusing to renew drivers' licenses for
people with warrants; halting all public aid -- welfare, tax refunds, and
unemployment benefits; suspending professional licenses and making serving
warrants on serious or violent offenders a top priority.

Fundamental to our law enforcement system is respect for court-mandated
warrants ordering the appearance of suspects and offenders. With about
680,000 potentially dangerous fugitives roaming free in California, it is
clear the system has broken down.

Citizens are right to be concerned and should demand quick and coordinated
action by law enforcement agencies at all levels, from local police
departments to the attorney general's office.