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Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2009 6:18 pm Posts: 1115 Location: Rising Fawn, GA
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We can all remember the news article last year that crime was up in North Georgia that came out about this time last year. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010 ... gia/?local It was based mostly on a study produced by the Ochs Center for metropolitan studies and can be found here: http://www.ochscenter.org/documents/pub ... on2010.pdf I wanted to post a link to a page on the GBI's site that you can research the stuff on your own. I will compile a spreadsheet and graph in the future. http://services.georgia.gov/gbi/crimest ... Reports.do This site will allow you by year to search the crime in Dade County or other counties. I keep hearing how crime is up in the county so here is a way for you to look at it. The pull downs go back all the way to 1980.
Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2009 11:58 pm Posts: 2179
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You can keep the crime rate as low as you want with the arrest rate. For instance, if you were to have a suspected murder and it's turned over to GBI and not much has went into the investigation (that makes an arrest) than it will never show up as a murder. Yes, I am proud of the lower crime rate that is reported in this county. But on the other hand as the days go by there is alot of crimes that go un-solved only because the lack of investigation. I just wonder if it shows up (on the crime report) as a rape if no arrest is made or just the report that a rape might have happened? I know when times get tough it seems as if burglery and larceny goes up, but not that many arrest are made in those cases it seems. There are probaly more cases that go un-reported in this area than any. Didn't see any for the ole "Peeping Tom"! And without that you have a very unbalanced chart... (Quote taken from my favorite show, Andy Griffith )
Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2009 6:18 pm Posts: 1115 Location: Rising Fawn, GA
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In case you are wondering who is on our jail you can go here and see a list. http://www.lmjc.net/Dade%20Jailpop.pdf At the end you will see sentenced vs not sentenced. You can also see all the charges and number of days in jail. Interesting.
* Dade County numbers include bench warrants and other types within the felonies and misdemeanors.
Source: Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade and Walker sheriffs' offices
Walker County, Ga., investigators took out warrants for James Ahlquise in July after he was accused of dragging a woman by the arm from his car and then wrestling a deputy to the ground to flee arrest.
But Ahlquise, 27, was only arrested on felony warrants for aggravated assault and obstruction of an officer four months later, when he was found at a home in Rossville on Nov. 3.
Walker County sheriff's authorities said these kinds of scenarios happen more often than they would like, but there's no simple solution to cutting down on active warrants that pile up.
"We'd like to have them all served, but it's impractical and impossible," said Sheriff Steve Wilson. "That's something you can never catch up on."
Across North Georgia, thousands of active warrants on charges ranging from misdemeanor traffic stops to felonies such as child molestation and aggravated assault haven't been served.
Meanwhile, critics say, the accused may be out there committing other crimes.
Authorities say the backlog is caused by many factors including lack of resources and suspects who flee the state. If people don't show up for court, judges issue new bench warrants for their arrest.
While some departments have the manpower to check on active warrants daily, other departments can't spare the officers.
"We do as much as we can with the limited resources we have and limited manpower," said Dade County Chief Deputy Danny Ellis.
WORKING THE PROBLEM
Catoosa and Walker counties -- close in population size -- have similar active warrant counts, Catoosa with 2,191 and Walker with 1,885.
Authorities say that number is consistent with previous years.
On average, Catoosa County deputies serve 300 to 400 warrants a month, while Walker County serves about 115 a month, authorities said.
"We do a pretty good job of getting ours served," said Capt. Scott Jordan with the Catoosa County Sheriff's Office. "We don't have the same issues as some of your bigger cities."
The Dade County Sheriff's Office has served 176 so far this year.
Ellis said the department tries to plan occasional roundups to serve numerous warrants, but that's only when time allows.
Once a year, several local law enforcement offices together will attempt to serve numerous warrants in a region of the counties, with priority on more severe charges, authorities said.
Felony warrants on charges such as child molestation and aggravated assault, which involve suspects considered a greater public safety risk, are given first priority in warrants divisions, Wilson said. But those suspects often are the hardest to find and may already have fled the jurisdiction.
AGING PAPERWORK
The older a case the harder it is to prosecute, authorities said.
Even if a person is found years later, many cases are dropped because too much time has passed, Wilson said. Only a few felonies, such as rape and murder, aren't subject to time limits for prosecution.
Bench warrants also skew the numbers, Jordan said. If the suspect is never caught or authorities don't know he has been arrested in another jurisdiction, the warrant stays in the system.
To keep the numbers accurate, officers try to purge cases and ask a judge to remove old warrants from the system.
In September, the Catoosa County Sheriff's Office removed more than 900 outstanding warrants for probation violation from the database because the cases had expired, Jordan said.
In Walker County, authorities got a court order to purge 460 old warrants from their system, mostly bad-check cases and misdemeanors, Wilson said. But a few of the warrants were other felonies.
"We exhausted all efforts [on those cases]," he said. "It's kind of like chasing rabbits."
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