Laurel sheriff’s office unveils new system

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January 27, 2012

Capability seeks to bring lawbreakers to justice

Anonymous Times-Tribune The Times-Tribune Fri Jan 27, 2012, 09:34 AM EST

CORBIN — By Carl Keith Greene/Staff Writer

A new capability to bring in lawbreakers to justice has begun in the Laurel County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputy Sgt. Rodney Van Zant coordinated the first use of “e-warrants” this week.

The law enforcement part of the department on duty was to arrest suspects wanted on warrants, said Public Affairs Officer Gilbert Acciardo.

“We had bailiffs helping us, road deputies helping us. This is the first concentrated effort as a round-up of warrants that are bench warrants, warrants assigned to our officers and a warrant that is brought in by a citizen that needs service and we haven’t been able to locate them,” he explained.

The deputies “stay so busy, they get to these warrants and they get them as they can, unless it’s an emergency situation. Often they are not emergencies, but thefts, burglaries and harassing and things like that. This gave us an opportunity to pull in a bunch of guys and go out there and just concentrate our efforts,” Acciardo said.

They were on the scene for about three hours.

People driving up and down Hawk Creek Road in western Laurel County were turning their heads because, “It’s reminiscent of when we do a drug roundup with the emphasis of one road and the roads leading off of it,” he added.

He added that if he lived out there he would feel good about the concentrated efforts.

The system is used by the officers who put into the computer the name of a road and the roads that connect to it.

The names of those who have warrants on them are requested and the names and addresses come up, Acciardo explained.

As a result, 35 suspects were on the list. About half were located and arrested, he said.

The charges ranged from failure to appear in court, child support, driving under the influence and various felony warrants.

They were located, arrested and taken to the Laurel County Corrections Center.

Nearly all of those who were wanted participated easily. “One instance they were trying to pretend like they weren’t home. We could hear the kids inside. We went ahead and went in, and he was a little huffy. But he said, ‘I know I got some outstanding fines that I didn’t go in to pay. I understand the failure to appear warrants.’ Honestly, most of the people said, ‘I’ve been meaning to get in and take care of it. I wish I’d taken care of it. I won’t let this happen again in the future because I don’t want you coming out, loading me up and taking me to jail, because I didn’t pay my fine,’ We didn’t have any that were violent felonies, because we would handle those differently,” Acciardo said.

Working the system were Sheriff John Root and eight deputies.

Root said other areas and roads will be “targeted in Laurel County in the future to aid in the apprehension of wanted persons.”

He added, “We have a good tool now.”

“We’re going to use this tool in the future on other roads with no set schedule. Our hopes are when people who owe warrants they’ll just go in and pay for them, without us having to go out on those roads to pick them up,” Acciardo said.

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