ELPD arrests 47 during routine sweep of outstanding warrants
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During the past two years, the East Lansing Police Department let about 1,200 outstanding arrest warrants pile up for offenses ranging from traffic violations to aggravated assault.
And in two and a half weeks, ELPD officers made a sweep of outstanding warrants, resulting in 47 arrests by last Friday.
Sgt. Scott Wriggelsworth said the sweep is something the department does once or twice a year to close cases.
“We just felt it was a good time,” he said. “We spent a couple weeks gathering intelligence and attempting to locate people. … I would say most people know they have a warrant for unpaid tickets.”
Some of the 47 individuals arrested were MSU students, but police did not have an exact number.
East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said the periodic sweeps ensure the department doesn’t have a backlog of too many outstanding warrants. Wibert said 47 arrests made in the sweep were consistent with the number of arrests made during past warrant sweeps.
Wibert said on the busiest nights in East Lansing, more than half of the offenders the department deals with have no university affiliation.
“East Lansing is a destination that people from around the state come to,” Wibert said. “When they get in trouble, they don’t really feel the need to come back and take care of it.”
Wriggelsworth said the fact that many people arrested in East Lansing don’t actually live within the city made the process of clearing the warrants difficult.
“Our residents are … very transient and move a lot,” he said. “Not all the people with warrants were students … Some people come in for basketball or football games and different university events and are here for just four or six hours. They go back home, and don’t take care of it.”
Wriggelsworth said police departments from other cities assisted in arresting offenders who live outside East Lansing.
Erik Johnston, an East Lansing resident who runs Underground Printing, 209 M.A.C. Ave., said he can relate to the frustration some people can have with paying parking tickets, which could end up in an arrest warrant.
“I had them add up and actually had to have a six month payment plan set up by the East Lansing parking division to pay it all off,” Johnston said. “I think it was around $700 in parking tickets.”
Although Johnston has never been arrested for unpaid parking tickets, he said he has no problem with police tracking down those who haven’t paid their fines.
“The law’s the law, and outstanding warrants are outstanding warrants,” Johnston said. “The cops have to do their job.”
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ELPD Could
(02/03/09 6:07am)Report
Now if the ELPD would just start enforcing the traffic laws (running red lights, no yielding to pedestrians, etc), they would be off to a good start. It is great to grab those 47 outstanding people, but now you need to start enforcing the rule of law in the city. Just look to campus as a start for positive traffic control.
Jack
(02/03/09 12:02pm)Report
Here’s another idea – how about enforcing laws against jaywalking? Crossing the street on a red is illegal, just like running a red light. Remember that next time you almost get pasted after walking out when you shouldn’t.