Stewart did not return three phone calls to her office for comment.
But other judges complained that they don't always get the full picture from probation agents and have to do their own research into a defendant's background. Others noted that if a probationer appears to be doing well - has found a job, for example - they'd hesitate to issue a no-bail warrant that would jeopardize the job.
In the same report in which Rowlett's probation agent asked for a no-bail warrant, he also told the judge that Rowlett was employed assembling furniture at the RoomStore in Catonsville and "reported to his agent regularly and presented a good attitude."
Pat McGee, the interim director of the Division of Parole and Probation, said: "We make a [warrant] request, and the judiciary appropriately makes its own decision. This is a different approach. ... We're saying, 'Hey, this is an opportunity. You can take advantage of it.' "
He said that in the last year city judges issued 291 warrants for technical offenses. One judge who has issued such a warrant is Circuit Judge Wanda Heard, who in an interview expressed mixed feelings about the targeting program.
She keeps three piles of probation folders stacked neatly on her desk, takes meticulous notes on each case and is known for adding her own conditions - she requires probationers to write a book report and keeps a large binder of the completed reports in her office.
"Just because a person has been arrested does not mean they've been convicted," she said. But, flipping through the piles of folders, she showed a reporter several warrants she had issued on non-criminal offenses.
"I look at what they did and what they are on probation for," she said.
She also sometimes says no. "I don't know that there is a quick fix by just issuing warrant," she said. "How long does the Police Department expect to be able to keep these people in jail?"
Bealefeld said that using probation violations is one tool law enforcement officers can use to combat crime and said it is being used narrowly.
"Many, many of [the people on probation] are trying to do right," he said. "This isn't open season on everyone in parole and probation."
annie.linskey@baltsun.com
