EVERETT – A new county Web site that lists people who are wanted by police has been flooded by visitors.
About 4,000 people visited the Web site a total of 6,000 times since it was unveiled late last month. Nearly 150 warrants from Evergreen District Court were pulled out of the system because they were no longer valid or because people went to court to resolve their warrants.
In some cases, people listed as wanted on warrants were dead.
The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office tip line also received more than a dozen tips from anonymous callers who reported where people on the list could be found. Acting on one of those tips, deputies learned that a woman with an outstanding warrant is in jail in Spokane. Once freed there, she’ll be sent to Snohomish County to answer to the warrant. Deputies continue to follow up on other leads.
A warrant sweep last week led to four arrests, although police had hoped for more. The sweep focused on people wanted on warrants out of Evergreen District Court in Monroe. The sweep taught them that many of the warrants contain old or outdated addresses for wanted people.
“Many of these folks are quite transient and it’s very difficult to track them,” sheriff’s Chief Kevin Prentiss said.
The next time police attempt to round up people with outstanding district court warrants they’ll be sure to spend more time beforehand confirming addresses, he said.
Court officials and police won’t say when the next sweep will be and again are encouraging people to visit the county Web site and take care of their warrants. The site is www.snoco.org/warrants.
The warrant Web 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. 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.
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