Cutbacks Result in Unserved Arrest Warrants : Law enforcement: Two Sheriff’s Department detectives are left to try to deal with a backlog of 95,000 cases.

Crippled by budget cuts that have left only two detectives assigned full-time to serving arrest warrants, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department is scrambling patrol officers to help chase down suspects ranging from accused drunk drivers to wanted felons.

The number of arrest warrants being served by detectives has dropped dramatically since the staffing cuts were imposed eight months ago in the Sheriff’s Department’s Warrant and Fugitive Bureau, and prosecutors say the decline could lead to fewer criminal convictions in the coming year.

Last fall, five of seven members of the Warrant and Fugitive Bureau were reassigned in order to help cut down on overtime costs in the patrol and custody divisions. The other two positions are on the list of possible cuts for next year.

But now, with just two detectives remaining in the unit, only the most serious felony warrants are being actively worked by the bureau. A third detective remains, but is assigned to handling fugitive cases, working with law enforcement agencies in other states.

In Ventura County, there are now 95,000 outstanding warrants, a level almost twice that of a decade ago. The majority stem from traffic tickets and misdemeanors, but a small percentage were issued for felonies ranging from drug charges to violent assault and parole violation.

Prior to September, when the budget cuts were implemented, the warrant unit served an average of 105 warrants a month, many of those to people wanted for more than one offense. In the three months after the reassignments, the unit averaged 21 warrants a month. In April, six people were arrested, clearing 11 warrants.

An underlying concern with the cutbacks in the warrant bureau is that time may run out in some cases. If sheriff’s deputies are unable to show an adequate attempt to serve misdemeanor warrants within a year after they’re issued, charges could be dropped, officials say.

However, this would only apply in cases when a fresh warrant is issued on a charge for which the suspect has not already appeared in court.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Greg Totten said the possibility of misdemeanor and felony cases being dismissed is of “considerable concern” to the district attorney’s office.

“There are going to be potentially serious felony cases that will not be able to get into the court system,” he said.

Even if a warrant is still valid, the delay in finding and arresting a suspect could jeopardize a prosecution, he said.

“As time passes, witnesses’ memories decrease, the ability to locate witnesses declines and, ultimately, the ability to prove a case to a jury goes down,” Totten said.

Assistant Sheriff Oscar Fuller sees other negative consequences, including an erosion in respect for the courts and a compromise in public safety. Many wanted criminals are repeat offenders and have the opportunity to commit more crimes if they are not picked up, Fuller said.

Another concern, he said, is loss of revenue from fines collected by the county each time a warrant is served. However, it is impossible to measure this loss because no one keeps track of fines that resulted from the work of the warrant bureau.

“We serve the warrant, but the collection of the fine remains at the discretion of the court,” Fuller said. “We don’t get the money back in our budget.”

To help make up for the loss in warrant detectives, misdemeanor warrants with bail amounts over $5,000 are now being doled out to patrol officers. The only available figures show that they served 179 warrants in the last three months of 1992, an average of about 60 warrants a month.

Lt. Kathy Kemp said it is too early to tell how successful this practice will be.

“The only thing that’s kind of kept things at an even level is that all of our patrol stations have taken some warrants and are assisting. They’re doing a good job with the time they have available,” she said. “But their priority is to respond to calls for service.”

Aside from the lack of time to track down suspects, patrol officers are at an obvious disadvantage wearing uniforms and driving marked cars, said Lt. Larry Reynolds, who once supervised the warrant unit and works in the east valley.

“People you’re after generally know law enforcement is looking for them. They are a little more cagey and a little more leery,” he said. “It takes a little more of a surreptitious effort to be highly successful.”

Such was the case on a recent afternoon when deputies Charlie Harwood and Brian Worthan arrested Homero Del Real in a sod field off Hueneme Road.

Arrested a fourth time on suspicion of drunken driving, Del Real had failed to show up for a court appearance after being released on his own recognizance.

Worthan and Harwood had tracked him down in a matter of an hour by talking with a young child at Del Real’s residence and questioning the man’s employer.

Even as he was being handcuffed, the look on Del Real’s face said he was not surprised.

“You failed to appear in court,” Worthan said.

“Yeah, I know,” Del Real answered.

To some, the work of a warrant detective might seem to be the last old-style police job, classic cowboys kicking down doors and hauling in criminals. Unlike major crimes detectives, those who serve warrants are unconcerned with the details of an investigation. The assignment does have its dangerous side. In early December, Deputy Larry Meyers was struck by a speeding pickup truck driven by a man wanted for violating his probation.

“We’ve had encounters where we’ve taken guns off people or they’ve resisted and we’ve had to wrestle them into custody,” said Worthan.

In fact, the trappings of the warrant detective’s job are anything but glamorous. The two remaining detectives drive a county-issued Dodge Dynasty. Their main tools are a telephone book and a Thomas Guide map book.

And their look, unlike undercover detectives, is purely conservative.

“We drive down the street and everybody makes us,” Harwood acknowledged.