Countywide : 142 Arrested in Warrant Sweep
A task force aimed at clearing a backlog of 100,000 outstanding warrants in Ventura County ended recently with the arrests of 142 people, authorities said.
The monthlong sweep cleared 475 traffic and 25 criminal warrants, which amounted to less than 1% of the outstanding warrants. More than 4,000 warrant arrests were attempted, Ventura Sheriff’s Sgt. Bruce Norris said.
“Many times people with traffic warrants are transient, so we were not as successful as we hoped. But clearing 500 warrants is pretty good,” Norris said.
More than half of the county’s outstanding warrants are for failure to appear in traffic court, Norris said.
“We see 5,000 criminal and traffic warrants go through this office every month, and we have an 11-person unit to deal with all of them. You do the best you can, and that’s all you can do,” he said.
The cleared warrants amount to $615,000, but Norris said revenue from criminal warrants is seldom seen.
Actual revenue that will be realized by Ventura County and its cities has not yet been determined.
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