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County Sees Warrant Inventory Decline; DA, Sheriff Outline Batch-dismissal and Fugitive Operations
Summary
A county task group found active warrants at a 15-year low and reported that about 80% of active warrants are misdemeanor-level; the District Attorney described batch-dismissal protocols for older minor warrants while the Sheriff described a new felony fugitive detective and intelligence-led operations.
Santa Barbara County officials reported Dec. 9 that the current active-warrant inventory has declined to historic lows and that the large majority of active warrants are for misdemeanor-level offenses. County data presented by the probation department showed the active warrant list had fallen to about 9,670 (a snapshot used for the subcommittee), with roughly 80% misdemeanor warrants and 20% felonies; only about 4% were statutorily defined strike offenses.
Assistant District Attorney Kelly Duncan described protocols her office uses to reduce the backlog: automatic dismissal of misdemeanor warrants older than 10 years, case-by-case dismissal for many misdemeanor warrants older than three years (excluding domestic violence, child or elder abuse, sex crimes and DUIs), and batch filings to dismiss categories such as vehicle-code violations. "Our first batch included 272 vehicle-code warrants for dismissal," she said, and the office planned a larger second batch of more than 2,000 eligible cases.
Sheriff27s Commander Eric Rainey described a newly funded felony-fugitive detective position (funded from cannabis tax revenue) working to identify and coordinate apprehension of high-priority fugitives. The office reported a 22% increase in monthly warrants booked in the first quarter after the new position and intelligence-led operations.
The board received and filed the report and urged continued coordination among sheriff, probation, DA, public defender and the courts to clear older technical warrants while prioritizing public-safety risks.
