In May, Arizona created a Violent Criminal Apprehension Team to work on tracking down fugitives, a backlog of nearly 60,000 outstanding felony warrants statewide. The VCAT is credited with more than 230 fugitive warrant arrests in Maricopa County since May.

The Department of Public Safety is launching a searchable public database of felons with known outstanding warrants, and as a clearing how for information and tips to VCAT.

Any felony warrant for failure to appear is a very serious matter. If you find yourself in this situation, get the best criminal defense legal advice you can. An attorney can help you avoid the most serious consequences that could result from you being caught. If you are prepared to address the warrant before being tracked down and picked up by Arizona law enforcement, you have many opportunities to make your case, explain your situation, and negotiate a reasonable outcome.

And it’s not just felonies that are at issue. If you have a warrant for a failure to appear on a misdemeanor charge, even one that is decades old, could come back to haunt you anytime. Now, there probably aren’t squads of agents chasing you down for a suspended license warrant, or other misdemeanor charge. But it is all too easy to be found these days.

Passive surveillance and monitoring on police cruisers commonly locates driver’s with outstanding warrants. Automatic License Plate Scanning Technology, matched with criminal justice and DMV databases linked nationwide, can flag your car just driving down the street. You will be pulled over and arrested.

It could even happen on a decades old, out of state warrant. New technology linking this information comes online every day.

For any warrant, failure to appear in court, bail jumping, or other criminal defense matter, please contact us for a free legal case evalulation.