COVINGTON - In the wake of Kenton County's backlog of arrest warrants, the county police chief said Wednesday he wants to create a special unit to find the fugitives.
The Enquirer reported Sunday that more than 4,200 people are wanted in Kenton County on unserved warrants. Most involve misdemeanors such as theft by deception. But some are wanted for violent offenses such as rape and assault.
Chief Mike Browning advanced the idea during a meeting with Judge-executive Clyde Middleton and County Attorney Garry Edmondson.
Chief Browning said the new law-enforcement team, run from his department, would concentrate on serving felony warrants.
''Not only do we want to wipe these (existing ones) out, we want a fugitive unit of sufficient strength to handle felony warrants as they're generated through the Kenton County court system,'' he said.
The plans come one day after Sheriff Bill Steenken, whose department has been regarded as chiefly responsible for serving most of the warrants, announced he is pulling two deputies out of a special FBI task force set up to address Kenton's problems. The deputies, two of five members of the task force, will be out Dec. 31.
The sheriff cited frustrations among members of his department who aren't part of the federal effort and therefore can't get the overtime paid for by the FBI.
The Covington Police Department, moving to partially fill the vacuum left by Sheriff Steenken's decision, committed one extra officer to the FBI task force. The department already has one officer assigned to the effort.
''The chief (Al Bosse) felt that the task force was too important to let it die,'' said Lt. Col. Steve Schmidt, a Covington assistant police chief. ''We're sorry that the sheriff's department felt it had to do that.''
Although the warrant service is historically a role for the sheriff, state law is open-ended, requiring no one to get the job done. The effectiveness of the current system and who should be responsible for doing the job is being scrutinized.
''All the police chiefs in Kenton County are concerned with this and to date all have pledged support in executing the warrants in their jurisdictions,'' Chief Browning said.
The Kenton County Police Department is traditionally responsible for patrolling unincorporated areas of the county. The fugitive unit would concentrate on wanted felons regardless of where they live, the chief said.
The Kenton Fiscal Court wants a long-term solution, the chief said. The fugitive unit, which is being studied to see how much it would cost and how many people it would need, would require its approval.
''We're not talking about a Band-Aid,'' he said. ''They're really wanting us to do this thing and do it right.''
''We're going to address them,'' Mr. Middleton said. ''He has an overall plan that I think will resolve most of the problems.''
Mr. Edmondson also is looking for state money to have someone specifically designated to serve court papers on child support cases. The sheriff's department also serves those.
''That would be a critical component of it,'' Chief Browning said. ''Those people are a significant drain on the system.''
Chief Browning said other possible roles for the county police include distributing the warrants list to city departments and helping get more accurate information about people on the list. Many of the entries now lack Social Security numbers, birth dates and addresses.
Sheriff Steenken was not part of Wednesday's meeting, which Chief Browning said was to update the judge-executive. The sheriff and chief spoke on Tuesday about increasing efforts to serve warrants.
''There's room for the sheriff to have a role in this, but at this early stage I don't know exactly what that would be,'' the chief said. ''That would be determined by the policy of the sheriff's department.''
Sheriff Steenken said he is waiting for a meeting with all the county's police chiefs before deciding whether his office would take part in any new unit.
Circuit Court Clerk Mary Ann Woltenberg also has agreed to meet with law enforcement about what can be done to improve the computer database of warrants, which her office oversees, the county chief said. The Covington Police Department has complained about arresting people who had already paid fines but remained on the list.
Jane Prendergast contributed to this report.
Sheriff pulls deputies off FBI team Published Dec. 18, 1996
Lawmakers want answer to unserved warrants Published Dec. 17, 1996
4,200 unserved warrants in Kenton County Published Dec. 15, 1996
