Detroit, MI – United States Marshal
Robert M. Grubbs of the Eastern District of Michigan is proud to announce
that Detroit’s Fugitive Safe Surrender (FSS) was a record breaking success.
The four day operation, which ran from June 4-7, resulted in more than 7,000
individuals turning themselves in to law enforcement which was more than the
previous eight FSSs combined.
Marshal Grubbs commended his staff for their
hard work and the tremendous hours they put in that made this program a
success, but he recognized that without the church and its leaders, the
program would not have materialized.
“This initiative could not have happened
without the cooperation and assistance of Dr. Edgar L. Vann, Pastor of
Second Ebenezer Church, who offered the use of his beautiful and newly
constructed facility, Second Ebenezer Church located at 14601 Dequindre Road
in Detroit,” said U.S. Marshal Grubbs.
With an estimated backlog of over 30,000
outstanding warrants in the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Marshal Grubbs
was eager to bring this initiative to Detroit. For over a year, Marshal
Grubbs coordinated with local civic and law enforcement leaders to lay the
groundwork to make Fugitive Safe Detroit a reality. Of the over 7,000
individuals who turned themselves in, 966 were felonies and 10,534 were
misdemeanors.
The numbers of individuals attempting to turn
themselves in on outstanding warrants was so great that individuals who had
misdemeanor warrants were given vouchers with instructions to contact the
city’s district court who would schedule a court date for them to come into
court and they would be offered the same “favorable consideration” as if
they had seen a Judge at the Church.
The U.S. Marshals Service provided a mobile
command center, posted at Detroit’s 36th District Court to assist with the
large amount of individuals who received vouchers during the four-day
initiative but were unable to be seen by a Judge. Of the 966 felony warrants
cleared including one for homicide in commission of a drug trafficking
crime, only three were taken into custody. Preliminary estimates are showing
that approximately 11,500 warrants were cleared over the four-day operation
for the city of Detroit and Wayne County.
Key judicial participants included William J.
Giovan Chief Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan, Marylin
E. Atkins, Chief Judge of Michigan’s 36th District Court, and J. Otis Davis,
Court Administrator of Michigan’s 36th District Court. Legal team partners
included Stephen J. Murphy, United States Attorney for the Eastern District
of Michigan, Prosecuting Attorney Kym L. Worthy of the Wayne County
Prosecuting Attorney’s office, and Chief counsel Donald L. Johnson of the
State Defender’s Office, as well as the office of the Mayor for the city of
Detroit. Frontline law enforcement
partners included Chief Ella M. Bully Cummings, Detroit Police Department;
Sheriff Warren C. Evans, Wayne county Sheriff’s Office, Annemarie H. Gibson,
Michigan State Police, and Dinah Moore, Regional Administrator for the
Michigan Department of Corrections.
Marshal Grubbs would also like acknowledge
the efforts of the individuals of the subcommittees who brought their
expertise and talents to the table who made Detroit’s Fugitive Safe
Surrender the success it was. Particularly, Sidney McBride with Detroit’s
Third Circuit Court who chaired the Legal Team, Dwayne Anderson with
Detroit’s 36th District Court who headed the Information Technology team,
Jeriel Heard, Deputy Chief, with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office who was
in charge of security and logistics, Tamela Aikens with the Detroit
Community Justice Partnership who brought together all the volunteers at the
church, and Peggy Goodwin with the Goodwin Company who was in charge of the
Public Awareness subcommittee. Marshal Grubbs also sends a special thank you
to Nikki Doby and Keith Hutchings with Second Ebenezer Church who
coordinated particulars at the site.
Additional information about the U.S. Marshals can be found at
http://www.usmarshals.gov.
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