Outlaws of the Old West had their faces plastered on posters. They were wanted dead or alive.
Generations later, Snohomish County’s scofflaws are showing up on the Internet. Most are alive. Some are already dead.
County officials last week launched a Web site that lists people wanted on outstanding misdemeanor warrants. With a click of a button, people can search for a name or scroll through a list of about 10,000 warrants to see if their neighbor or an employee are wanted.
The site was launched in hopes that offenders who see their names will take care of their legal obligations before police come knocking on their door and cart them off to jail, Snohomish County Prosecutor Janice Ellis said.
The site is part of an effort to cut the backlog of warrants in the county’s District Court and Superior Court. So is an upcoming sweep by local police officers who plan to hunt down and jail people who have failed to meet their court obligations. Additional warrant sweeps will be ongoing.
“We’re not going to play this game of ‘They’ll never find me,’” Ellis said.
Other jurisdictions who have conducted warrant sweeps have noted a significant reduction in people who don’t appear for their court hearings.
Anyone who sees their name on the list should contact a District Court and make arrangements to go before a judge to take care of the warrant, Ellis said.
That’s impossible for some on the Web site.
At least a few people on the list are dead, according to public documents.
“We have no way of knowing until it is brought to our attention by someone who knew the deceased,” said Evergreen District Court Judge Patricia Lyon.
Court officials and deputy prosecutors have been working all summer to review thousands and thousands of warrants to bring them up to date, said Lyon, who presides over the county’s four district courts.
“If people would just show up for their court dates, it’d save a lot of resources,” she said. “If it was an appointment to pick up a free plasma TV, they wouldn’t miss it. Failing to show up shows a lack of respect for the courts and the legal system.”
Court officials expect to receive calls from some people who thought they had taken care of all of their court matters but still come up in the warrant database. They are being advised to call the District Court or speak to their attorney or the Office of Public Defense.
Some of the offenses date back 20 years. The oldest person being sought is 89; the youngest is a 15-year-old boy.
There will be people who aren’t on the list but are still wanted by police, Ellis said. The Web site only includes misdemeanor warrants. Those generally are for drunken driving, driving with a suspended license or fourth-degree assault.
The county eventually plans to have a similar database for felony warrants.
Snohomish County has the lowest number of outstanding warrants per capita of seven counties in the region, according to a recent study by the county’s performance auditor. There are still steps that can be taken to cut the backlog even more, save county resources and hold offenders accountable, the auditor found.
Lyon said offenders need to know they will be held accountable for missing a court hearing, not paying a fine or otherwise thumbing their nose at the legal system.
“There hasn’t been much of a consequence for failing to appear at a District Court hearing. Frequently we hear people say they missed a court hearing because they were confused about when they were supposed to appear,” she said. “I don’t find that acceptable.”
People seem to be willing to roll the dice and hope that luck is with them, Ellis said. That’s not going to work when police are actively searching for people with outstanding warrants, she said.
It also could mean the difference between calling to go before a judge and spending the night in jail to make sure the judge sees the offender, officials said.
“If you’re stopped by us and you have a warrant, you’re going to jail,” Snohomish County sheriff’s bureau chief Kevin Prentiss said. “You save yourself a guaranteed trip to jail by taking care of it.”
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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