BY JANE PRENDERGAST and GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- Kenton County's fugitive-finding unit is about to double, with two deputies added by the new leader of a department that was once reluctant to help.
Sheriff Gary Lay said Tuesday his two deputies will work with the two Kenton County officers who have been searching for warrant scofflaws since that agency created its fugitive team 19 months ago.
Sheriff Lay's decision is a departure from that of his predecessor, Bill Steenken, who was criticized for his office's failure to serve enough warrants. At one point, the county's backlog had mounted to more than 9,000.
Sheriff Lay, appointed to replace Mr. Steenken and now running for election, said his department has served 250 warrants during his three months in office. He also has started running newspaper advertisements with names of wanted people.
The backlog is "being decreased," he said. "We're definitely working on it."
The growing list became public after the April 1996 killing of a woman in Fort Wright by her estranged husband, who was free at the time in spite of a year-old outstanding arrest warrant for him. He was not tracked down by authorities, although he was a paraplegic and shot her at the same address he gave his parole officer.
The sheriff could have started his own fugitive unit, which could have led to duplication of efforts, said Mike Browning, chief of the Kenton County Police Department.
"It only made sense that we do this in a coordinated fashion," Chief Browning said. "I'm so excited about it."
His office stepped up amid the controversy and established the unit, even though state law does not specify which agency should do the work.
Chief Browning said his fugitive unit has arrested or helped with the arrest of 546 people since its inception.
Judge-executive Rodney "Biz" Cain said he was glad to see cooperation between the two agencies.
