Officers protect and serve warrants Police duo assigned to go door to door in search of offenders

Because of incorrect information supplied by the Baltimore County Police Department, an article yesterday gave the wrong number of precincts with officers who serve warrants full time for the county. There are two such officers in the Essex precinct, two in Woodlawn, and one each in the Garrison and Wilkens precincts.

The Sun regrets the error.

It's the police version of kissing frogs to find a prince: Two Essex patrol officers assigned to serving warrants knock on hundreds of doors every week, hoping to make an arrest.

Sometimes, no one's home. Sometimes, the person they're looking for has moved away, or gone to work, or just dropped out of sight.

But sometimes, Officers H. L. Ellingson and J. T. Arnold find the prince and make an arrest.

Those arrests are adding up. Last year -- the first year the two officers were assigned to warrant duty full time -- the number of unserved warrants fell by 5 percent from 1996. Five percent is a lot in Essex, which accounts for a disproportionate 20 percent of the 8,000 or so warrants issued each year in Baltimore County.

"This station has always had a higher rate of unserved warrants," said Capt. James W. Johnson, who oversees the precinct -- the only one in the county with officers assigned to full-time warrant duty.

"All we do is drive from house to house, knocking on doors. We don't go in beating heads -- we just take care of the court's paperwork," is how Arnold describes his job. "Sometimes they call their attorney, sometimes they come in [to the precinct] and sometimes they hide from us."

People who hide define the job for his partner, Ellingson.

"I don't want to say it's personal, but it gets to the point where you really want to find this guy, to feel like you accomplished something," Ellingson said. "I enjoy the adrenalin. Like a foot chase -- that's what makes it fun."

Warrants for people who are likely to pose a physical threat to officers are served by the county police tactical team. All others are served by precinct officers, meaning Ellingson and Arnold can be serving warrants for anything from missing a court date to attempted murder.

On a recent rainy day, Ellingson worked 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., while his partner took the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift. By early afternoon, Ellingson had arrested two people and was looking for a third to close his shift.

He stopped by an apartment building that was the last known address for Sandra Longoria, who had an outstanding warrant on a disorderly conduct charge. Stepping across a muddy, unkempt yard, he peered through the glass-paned door of 35B Oak Grove Drive at what was clearly a vacant apartment: bare kitchen with a refrigerator door hanging open.

"She's moved," he said with a sigh. Longoria's warrant went back in the "miscellaneous" section of the box so his partner wouldn't make a second wasted trip. Later, Ellingson said, he would dig a little more to find out where she might be staying.

The address on the next warrant was occupied -- by the parents of Artis Bartholow, wanted for a violation of probation. While their small dog, Candy, yapped at Ellingson, the couple told him where their son has been since July: in prison in Hagerstown. That warrant went into "miscellaneous," too, until Ellingson could confirm with jail officials in Hagerstown that he is there.

Back at the precinct, Ellingson briefed Arnold on the day's work before handing over the file box and keys to the patrol car.

Arnold's first stop was brief -- no one home.

So was the second. "This person has moved to Florida," Arnold said after talking to the brother of William McClinton, charged with failure to appear in court.

The third stop was short, too. Mitchell Leake, charged with driving under the influence, was not home; he was at work in a neighborhood chain restaurant. Arnold left his card and instructions with a roommate for Leake to call him.

"I don't like messing with people's paychecks," he said, explaining why he wasn't going to arrest Leake at the restaurant. "I'll give him a couple of days to turn himself in."

So it went for two hours -- miles and misses, but no hits.

Then Arnold pulled out a warrant for Blair Wesley Bowers, charged with violation of probation.

Arnold drove to the 1500 block of Alconbury Road and knocked on the front door of the brick rowhouse. Bowers opened it, and Arnold recognized him. He also recognized something else, he said later: the odor of marijuana smoke.

A brief conversation with Bowers and his mother, Danielle Anabel Pyle, produced a bag full of drug paraphernalia, including bongs and pipes, a small stash of marijuana -- and two arrests.

Another patrol car took Bowers to the precinct, where two charges of drug and paraphernalia possession were added to the original violation of probation charge. His mother also was charged with possession of marijuana and paraphernalia.

"Now it's two hours of paperwork -- then I'll go back and start knocking on doors," Arnold said after processing his arrests at the precinct.

In Essex, the warrant box is never empty.

But this year Johnson, the Essex Precinct captain, is hoping to lighten it more than last year -- he wants a 10 percent decrease in the number of unserved warrants.

"These warrants are the result of some crime -- some individual was victimized," Johnson said. "To serve these warrants is a contribution to the community."

Pub Date: 2/23/98