New Jersey's Arrest Warrant Check-In Program a Success
Have you ever thought to yourself, "Do I have any outstanding arrest warrants?" Yeah, same here. A four-day event last week in New Jersey called "Fugitive Safe Surrender" allowed minor offenders to turn themselves in. 3,901 people showed up.
The program, in now in its third year in New Jersey, was held in Franklin last week over a four day period. The biggest offender was a woman with 90 unpaid traffic tickets. And 20 people were cuffed and hauled off either because they didn't read the fine print about violent criminals being barred from the program, or they had warrants from out of state. Most of the 3,901 "fugitives" were wanted on minor traffic violations or drug offenses.
But to some, this was a chance to see if they had any outstanding arrest warrants that may have slipped their mind. 550 people turned up and had no warrants at all. "For some people, this seemed to be a way to check: Do I have a warrant or not?" parole board spokesman Neal Buccino told The Star-Ledger. What a great idea, really. Haven't you ever thought, "Did I ever pay off that reckless driving ticket from 10 years ago in ____ ?" Or, "Maybe they're still pissed off that I skipped jury duty like five times? Do they issue arrest warrants for unpaid public intoxication tickets?" Think long and hard, because you could be eligible to get off easy for ignoring warrants!