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Fugitive Safe Surrender succeeds
842 surrender at Cleveland church – 324 with felony warrants
CLEVELAND, OHIO – Pete Elliott,
United States Marshal for the Northern District of Ohio, is
pleased to announce that Fugitive Safe Surrender was a
tremendous success. More than 800 people in trouble with the law
- 324 with outstanding felony warrants - voluntarily surrendered
last week to an unprecedented coalition of faith-based,
nonprofit, law enforcement and judicial authorities at Mount
Sinai Baptist Church in Cleveland.
“It’s a paradigm shift,” said Dr.
C. Jay Matthews, Mount Sinai’s Senior Pastor and leader of
Fugitive Safe Surrender, a faith-based pilot program targeted at
Cleveland’s 4th Police District and believed to be the
first-of-its-kind in the nation. “We’ve proven that community
partnerships can successfully encourage felony fugitives to
voluntarily and peacefully surrender – in huge numbers. We’ve
protected our neighborhoods, kept our law enforcement officers
from danger, silenced the
naysayers, and given those who surrendered the opportunity to
turn their lives around.”
Beginning in July 2004, a
coalition of faith-based, judicial, law enforcement, non-profit
and media leaders assembled in Cleveland to pursue a challenging
mission: to reduce the risk to neighborhoods in which fugitives
hide, law enforcement officers who pursue fugitives, and
fugitives themselves. The result was Fugitive Safe Surrender: A
four-day event at Mount Sinai Baptist Church in which Cuyahoga
County’s Sheriff’s Office, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Common
Pleas Court, Public Defender’s Office, Regional Information
System and Clerk of Courts teamed to technologically outfit,
staff and open a community courthouse in the church. The U.S.
Marshals Service, which generated the idea, also provided
assistance, as did the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the
district’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, Cleveland Police Department,
Cleveland Municipal Court and suburban municipal courts across
the county.
“This effort demonstrates the
courage of our justice system’s leaders to try new approaches
and team with non-traditional partners,” said Dr. Matthews. “Our
coalition’s vision was clear and our planning was excellent, but
none of us knew for certain if people would turn themselves in –
especially those wanted for felony crimes. We planned, we
prayed, and we paid careful attention to detail – and our
efforts were rewarded.”
Preliminary results showed that
842 persons surrendered over the program’s four days, from
August 3 through August 6, and that 324 of those persons were
wanted for felony crimes. The majority of the felony fugitives
who surrendered were wanted in connection with non-violent
crimes; however, a number of individuals charged with rape,
felonious assault, burglary and robbery – as well as high-level
drug offenses - surrendered as well. Non-violent felons were
given bond, new court dates and released directly from the
church, while those wanted for violent crimes – or those with
violent records – were taken into custody.
DC Strategic Partners, LLC
assisted the program with coalition and protocol development,
volunteer recruitment and management of the media outreach and
community engagement that preceded the four-day event. More than
70 volunteers from the congregation at Mount Sinai Baptist
Church partnered with justice system officials in the planning,
passing out more than 3,000 handbills across Cleveland’s 4th
Police District and registering the more than 800 persons who
surrendered. WKYC-TV Channel 3, Clear Channel Radio and Radio
One provided news coverage and public service announcement
airtime, and Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry's Community Re-Entry
lent experienced staff, resources and expertise to the cause.
Large banners were created and posted in the county and federal
courthouses as well as outside the church, a toll-free hotline
was established and staffed by deputy sheriffs and assistant
prosecutors for fugitives to call with questions, and 2,000
mailers explaining the program were sent to the last known
addresses of fugitives in the 4th District.
“My new law enforcement partners
told me that a four-day fugitive sweep across our area with 100
officers would typically result in 40 felony arrests,” said Dr.
Matthews. “We had eight times that many people wanted for felony
crimes turn themselves in peacefully – with no danger to our
neighborhoods, the officers or the fugitives themselves. With
these results, I’m confident that Fugitive Safe Surrender didn’t
end on August 6. It’s just beginning.”
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