AZ.D.P.S., federal marshals merge to track fugitives

by Glen Creno -
Apr. 23, 2009 02:38 PM
The Arizona Republic .

The state police and federal marshals are merging their special units that track fugitives in a move to save money while dealing with the growing number of arrest warrants waiting to be served.

The aggregation of acronyms brings together the state Department of Public Safety's Violent Criminal Apprehension Team, called VCAT, and the Arizona Wanted task force of the U.S. Marshals Service. The merger formalizes a relationship among agencies to share information and manpower to track the 60,000 wanted fugitives in the state.

VCAT was formed in 2008 in the midst of the ongoing arguing over illegal immigration in the state on the order of then-Gov. Janet Napolitano. DPS set up the unit and pulled the $1.6 million it was giving to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office that was being used to fight human smuggling. The Legislature later gave the money back to the Sheriff's Office.

But VCAT remained and says that since its formation, it has made 730 arrests, clearing 920 felony warrants. DPS says that near the end of March, there were 54,872 felony warrants in Arizona with a little more than 40,000 of them in Maricopa County.

U.S. Marshal David Gonzales acknowledged that in tough financial times, everyone has "taken major hits to their budgets." He said the combination of the units should have happened earlier in view of the number of new warrants pouring out of the courts.

"We cannot arrest our way out of this problem."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... tml?&wired