By Brendan Kearney
The Baltimore Daily Record
Baltimore has scheduled its version of the nationally popular U.S. Marshals’ Fugitive Safe Surrender program, which is designed to clear outstanding warrants, for four days in mid-June.
From June 16 through June 19, nonviolent felony and misdemeanor defendants will be able to turn themselves in at an as-yet-unnamed West Baltimore church in exchange for “favorable consideration,” that is, “every consideration to avoid incarceration,” according to Baltimore City Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Executive Director Kimberly Barranco.
Judges, prosecutors, public defenders and other city, state and federal agencies will be on hand to adjudicate the cases in an adjacent church-owned but secular building, Barranco said. Organizers hope thousands will take advantage of the opportunity to quit living in fear of capture and get on with legitimate lives.
“It’s going to be big,” Barranco predicted after Wednesday’s CJCC meeting.
Since its first iteration in Cleveland in 2005, Safe Surrender has been staged in 16 cities with the help of the U.S. Marshals Service. The most successful event, with more than 6,000 surrenders, was in Detroit in June 2008.
Baltimore City has 42,000 outstanding warrants, according to Lt. Col. Jesse Oden of the Baltimore Police Department’s Warrant Apprehension Task Force.
“If 1,500 or less turn themselves in, I would be disappointed,” Oden said of June’s event. “I’m expecting 2,500 or more. “
Barranco could not give an overall cost figure. A $117,000 federal grant will cover some overtime and technology, but that only represents “a very small part” of the overall cost shouldered by the participating agencies, she said.
The Safe Surrender announcement came during the first CJCC meeting of the year, and Judge M. Brooke Murdock’s first as chairwoman. Other new faces at the council included the Division of Pretrial Detention and Services’ new commissioner, Wendell M. “Pete” France, and Baltimore’s District Court Administrative Judge John H. Hargrove Jr.
U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein and two attorneys in his Violent Crimes Section spoke about the Maryland EXILE program, which aims to bring harsher federal penalties to bear on the city’s most dangerous criminals. And Jennifer Etheridge and Sue Diehl of the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office updated the council on the Special Prostitution Diversion Program.
City Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III trumpeted the reduction by one third over last year in year-to-date homicides, but noted the 64 percent uptick in home burglaries. The 16 percent reduction in year-to-date major crime has come while making 10 percent fewer arrests, according to police department statistics.
Baltimore City District Public Defender Elizabeth L. Julian also had good news.
While her office is barred from records of its clients’ criminal histories on the Automated Booking System, the pretrial division has started handing over printed versions on request. And, within a few months, public defenders in the St. Paul Place office will be able to videoconference with clients in the city’s downtown jail facilities. Public defenders in Montgomery County already have that capability, she said.
After the meeting, Julian said she hoped the Office of the Public Defender might eventually be able to videoconference with clients in the state’s prisons. But she made clear that technology would not cheapen representation.
“In no way are we trying to replace face-to-face interviews,” Julian said.
Copyright 2010 Dolan Media Newswires