But it may be geared just as much toward helping city police with a staggering warrant backlog, which yesterday stood at 42,000. Serving warrants is a painstaking process, with teams of officers crisscrossing the city and spending hours trying to track down individuals. The warrant task force serves from 30 to 100 warrants a day, with additional warrants cleared through unrelated arrests and other initiatives.
In Anne Arundel County, Sheriff Ron Bateman has used stunts such as promises of phony tax returns and Valentine's Day gift baskets to apprehend fugitives, though even those efforts resulted in a small number of cleared warrants.
The idea for the Safe Surrender program began with the marshals service, which organized an initiative in Cleveland and has successfully sponsored similar efforts elsewhere. In June, more than 7,000 people turned themselves in on an estimated 11,500 warrants during a Safe Surrender initiative in Detroit, more than the previous eight cities combined.
