Douglas County Warrant Resolution Event Planned

Douglas County court officials have set this years date for an event that's become an annual occurrence - at least before the pandemic.  April 12 is the date of the warrant resolution event for 2022 at the Government Center.

Officials with the Douglas County District Attorney's Office and the Clerk of Courts will be on hand in Room 270 of the Government Center to expedite cases for those who participate.  According to the details in the article in the Superior Telegram [paywall], defendants have the opportunity to "get their warrants quashed and cases rescheduled.  Some cases could be resolved entirely at the event".

The need for a way to resolve some of these outstanding warrants appears to be great.  Records show that there are currently 871 outstanding warrants in Douglas County.

While the benefits are easy to see from the individuals side of things, the event also provides closure and eases some of the system backlog for county court and law enforcement officials as well. Douglas County District Attorney Mark Fruehauf explains:

"Whether being arrested on the warrant by law enforcement or coming in to voluntarily clear it up, warrants are eventually going to be dealt with one way or another.  This is an opportunity for people with outstanding warrants to come in voluntarily, get the warrant quashed so it's not continuing to hang over them, and walk out with a new court date or potentially even get the case wrapped up."

That last point is often something that court and law enforcement officials stress each time one of these events is scheduled. "Some cases could be resolved entirely at the event" without the need for a court reappearance.

This years event on April 12 marks a return after the pandemic shutdowns.  The last time Douglas County offered a warrant resolution event was in October 2018 - three and a half years ago. At that event, "20 warrants were cleared up and they were able to close a number of cases".