The News Room [News Archive]
News Release
Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615
Release Date: Thursday, January 22, 2003
Local drunken drivers getting the message: appear in court
or deputies will find you - New effort to nab no-shows
nets 160 in first three months - Overdue day in court bringing stiff
fines, jail time
For years people like Southgate resident Michael Wilson, who have
been arrested for drunken driving, have known a dirty little secret:
if they pay their $100 bond and skip their court date, no one would
come looking for them. No more fines. No community service. No
alcohol awareness classes.
In Wayne County, however, deadbeat drunken drivers are getting
a wake-up call, compliments of a one-of-a-kind unit created late
last year by Sheriff Warren Evans. In only its first three months
of operation, the four-officer Last Call unit has arrested 163
people who have been charged with an alcohol-related driving offense,
but never faced a judge. In fact, Mr. Wilson, a Ford Motor Company
employee who was wanted on four "failure to appear" warrants,
was picked up last week at his office in Dearborn.
Last year, Evans discovered that more than 7,000 people were wanted
on outstanding alcohol-related driving warrants in Wayne County,
making a mockery of the system, he says. According to Evans, however,
the new push is making a difference.
"We've been tracking the dispositions of these cases
and are seeing that most of the people we bring in are getting
stiffer fines and, in many cases, jail time," Evans said. "But
the important thing to me is that they are having their day in
court and hopefully, getting the wake-up call they need."
How the unit works
On a regular basis, officers from the Last Call unit pull files
from district courts throughout Wayne County, looking for violators
and tracking down addresses for their homes and places of employment.
Once they have enough files worked up, they perform localized “sweeps” to
arrest people wanted on warrants from that district court.
Since
the unit became operational in late October, deputies have
executed warrants out of district courts in Allen Park, Livonia,
Redford, Taylor, Westland and Woodhaven.
While most of the offenders are wanted for not showing up for
court, the unit also picks up those who have been convicted and
sentenced, but fail to adhere to the terms of their probation.
Jenny Lozano, Director of the Wayne County Chapter of Mother’s
Against Drunk Driving, says that the very existence of this new
unit gives her an extra tool when she is conducting court-ordered
alcohol awareness classes.
"Now I tell the participants, 'don’t think you
can just show up for one class and then disappear, because the
Sheriff’s Office will come find you,' " she
says. "You can see their attitudes change."
Evans says that with more than 7,000 absconders on the loose,
he has no illusions about catching all of them. The goal, he says,
is to get people to take their offenses and penalties more seriously.
"It will be gradual at first, but eventually, people who
are arrested for alcohol-related driving offenses in Wayne County
will get the message that they had better show up for their court
date," Evans said. "Otherwise, they may be met by sheriff’s
deputies at their home or their job and go back to jail."
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