The News Room [News Release]
Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615
Release Date: Friday, June 27, 2003
Sheriff, western Wayne communities, develop cooperative
law enforcement focus ---
Suburbs to rely on County’s fugitive and Internet
crime units
The
Conference of Western Wayne County Mayors and Supervisors [CWW],
which represents 18 suburban communities and more than 700,000
residents, recently passed a resolution to form a cooperative approach
to law enforcement with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.
By having the Sheriff’s Office conduct fugitive apprehension,
Internet investigations and computer forensic services for the
suburban departments, the resolution lays the groundwork for the
County to become a vital support agency, rather than a competing
police force, according to Sheriff Warren C. Evans.
“Since the Sheriff’s Office does not have primary
police duties in any of its communities, with the recent exception
of Highland Park, we all recognize that the County’s ideal
role is as a support agency to 43 other departments,” Evans
said. “This arrangement brings us a step closer to our collective
goal of a seamless law enforcement system.”
The cooperative approach will make each agency more efficient
and effective, said Canton Township Public Safety Director, John
Santomauro.
“This type of partnership makes perfect sense from a law
enforcement perspective,” said Santomauro. “Each agency
can focus on what it does best; local departments can provide immediate
response and the Sheriff’s Office can provide various
specialized support services. Ultimately, that will mean more effective
law enforcement and safer communities.”
When a local police department comes across a suspected case of
child pornography or Internet identity theft, for example, the
Sheriff’s Internet Crimes Unit will perform forensics on
any computers seized by the local officers. This process can recover
files that have been deleted from the hard drive and which can
be used as evidence.
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Similarly, when a local department learns that a violent criminal
they previously arrested has failed to appear in court after being
released on bond, County warrant enforcement officers will handle
the case. This unit, which also is made up of officers from Detroit,
Livonia and Taylor, has already made 1,000 such arrests countywide
in the past five months.
In addition to the services specifically described in the CWW
resolution, the Sheriff’s Office also provides a number
of countywide services, including its marine division, narcotics
and morality enforcement, and its Special Response Team.
Evans said his department is also working to develop new services
that will be provided to suburban departments, including in-custody
lineups, a missing/exploited child recovery unit and another unit
specifically to arrest individuals who fail to appear in court
on drunk driving charges.
With more than 900 sworn officers, the Wayne County Sheriff’s
Office is the second largest police department in the state.
Internet Crimes Unit
The Internet Crime Unit is responsible for finding and responding
to crimes occurring through the use of computers and the Internet.
The most common computer and Internet crimes that occur are:
Child Exploitation, Identification Theft, Internet Fraud, Credit
Card Fraud, Cyber-stalking, Software Piracy, Prostitution, and
Controlled Substance and Firearms Trafficking. Officers also
will be available to assist local law enforcement agencies by
that have cases involving advanced computer needs. To date, the
unit has performed computer forensics for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s
Office, Canton P.D., Sumpter P.D., Grosse Isle P.D., Macomb County
Sheriff’s Office, and the Wayne County Airport Authority.
These original cases ranged from a homicide investigation to
sexual harassment.
Fugitive Apprehension
Shortly after taking office Wayne County and Detroit, along with
officers from Taylor, Livonia and the US Marshals Service developed
the Fugitive Apprehension Service Team, whose mission is to round
up the thousands of wanted felons roaming Wayne County. In only
five months, the 40 officers have arrested more than 1,000 fugitives
living or hiding in communities across the county.
Communities represented by the Conference of Western Wayne are:
Belleville, Canton Township,
Dearborn,
Dearborn Heights,
Garden City,
Huron Township,
Inkster,
Livonia,
Northville,
Northville Township,
Plymouth Township,
Redford,
Romulus,
Sumpter Township,
Van Buren Township,
Wayne,
Westland, and
Plymouth
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