Law enforcement
Finally wanted: Police to chase thousands of fugitives
Police throughout the United States say
they will pursue thousands of additional fugitives across state borders
following a USA TODAY investigation.
(Photo: 2012 photo by
Matt Rourke, AP)
PHILADELPHIA — Five years after he ran
from charges that he assaulted a sleeping college student on an overnight
flight from Los Angeles, Yamin Ren is finally a wanted man.
For years, authorities said they would
not spend the time or money to pursue Ren — who lived in California — as long
as he stayed out of their state. For years, he remained free.
Now, after a USA TODAY
investigation, authorities here and across the USA
have promised to bring Ren and thousands of other fugitives back to face
justice regardless of where they are found.
The newspaper found this year that more
than 330,000 accused felons — including some wanted in rapes and murders — can
escape the charges against them merely by crossing a state border because
police and prosecutors secretly decided in advance not to go that far to
retrieve them. In the months that followed, officials from Florida to
Pennsylvania reversed those decisions by the thousands, informing the FBI that
they intend to retrieve fugitives from anyplace in the USA.
In Philadelphia, prosecutors reviewed
thousands of the city's old felony case files and identified hundreds of
fugitives they plan to retrieve if the suspects surface in other states, a
process known as extradition. Prosecutors approved extradition in at least 500
new cases, promising to seek people from other states for crimes as minor as
drug possession, according to FBI records and court files.
"Philadelphia took to heart the
story and realized that maybe they weren't doing as good of a job as they could
have been. So I think they've certainly increased their efforts," said
Pennsylvania Victim Advocate Jennifer Storm.
Progress in
Philadelphia and elsewhere has nonetheless been halting, illustrating the
challenges officials face in pursuing fugitives across the nation's patchwork
justice system. Despite having identified hundreds of fugitives who should have
been approved for extradition, many of the changes had yet to be entered into
the FBI's fugitive tracking database as of mid-October, meaning some of the
suspects could continue to get away. In many other cities, the number of
fugitives police say they won't pursue has shot up
dramatically…
Read more at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/28/fugitives-usa-today-investigation/20822847/
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