Sterling Heights

‘Fugitive sweep’ nets 27 people on Sterling warrants

By Cortney Casey
C & G Staff Writer

Sterling Heights police and cohorts on the Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team picked up 27 people on outstanding warrants during a June 5-7 “fugitive sweep.”

The arrests were part of a multijurisdictional DFAT effort conducted primarily across the Detroit area, though Lt. Luke Riley of the Sterling Heights Police Department said one person was arrested as far away as Kalkaska.

Sterling Heights joins various other local, county and state law enforcement agencies in supplying officers to DFAT, which is administered by the U.S. Marshal’s Office and tasked with apprehending wanted individuals throughout southeastern Michigan.

“The DFAT team is a great example of cooperation among law enforcement agencies,” Police Chief Michael Reese said in a prepared statement. “Thanks to the efforts of this task force, we now have 27 fugitives off the street, including some individuals whom we deemed dangerous.”

According to Riley, the warrants represented a mixture of property and violent crimes ranging in severity from retail fraud to assault with intent to do great bodily harm.

Riley said such large-scale sweeps are performed periodically “to try to keep the number of outstanding warrants down.”

Such lingering warrants occur when “we follow it up with the Prosecutor’s Office — they issue a warrant, but we can’t find (the suspect). He doesn’t show up; he doesn’t surrender himself,” he said.

The warrant details are entered in the Law Enforcement Information Network, so if the missing suspects are stopped on another issue and run through the database — and they’re within the designated “pick-up” area, based on the severity of the alleged crime — police will go apprehend them, he said.

“We have a number of different people that work in this multi-jurisdictional group, so we just take our warrants, we divide them up based on last known address, etc.,” Riley explained. “They divide up into teams, and they’re each given a group of warrants, and they go out and try to contact these individuals and place them under arrest.”

A DFAT sweep conducted in the fall involves satisfying warrants from various cities, but the latest installment only concerned cases generated by crimes occurring within Sterling Heights, he said.

The arrested individuals will now face arraignments in 41-A District Court.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Cortney Casey at ccasey@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1046.