Current dispatcher, can confirm, though in our jurisdiction except for municipal warrants if a warrant is issued by the court it is initially entered by the court clerk into CCIC/NCIC, then our law enforcement agency is responsible for modifying the warrant to include identifying information, also called “packing” the warrant.
The packed warrant and all records pertaining to it are placed in a file and filed in a file cabinet within reach of the on duty dispatcher.
The original court issued warrant is never removed from the court and the record in the Crime Information Center secure databases is considered a cause to arrest and hold.
The only exceptions to this are municipal warrants, which are brought to dispatch to be entered manually, and overnight/weekend warrants for new offenses that are considered high priority. In that case the application for the arrest warrant is presented to the judge, the judge signs it if appropriate, and then that signed order is given to dispatch and the warrant is manually entered by dispatch. Come the next normal business hours for the court if the warrant has not been served then the court clerk will contact dispatch, we will cancel our entry, and the clerk will re enter the warrant from their side.
Yes it’s convoluted. I have to train people on it every time we get a new employee. You should see the systems we use for this stuff… but you’d have to get a qualifying job at a qualifying agency in order to do so.
Also, misuse of the systems that we have access to can not only lead to loss of access but can result in criminal charges, up to and including felony charges.
The FBI has certain stringent rules for the transmission of information. Email has to be encrypted end to end. Most warrants for other agencies are actually faxed, because the FBI considers a fax transmission secure. My agency is currently working through the process of making sure our new phone and fax (which isn’t really a fax) system that the IT department is implementing actually meets all the FBI criteria.
Former Arkansas 9-1-1 Operator and Dispatcher. LOTS of fun in the past confirming a FELONY Want that were under LOCK and KEY with a Nationwide Jurisdiction (Y-Class Felony) and let me tell ya, kicking a Detective out of Bed at Oh-Dark-Thirty and informing him he's got 10 piddling minutes to get down to the SO and CONFIRM the Warrent was NOT FUN. Especially as the Critter was a TS for a busted taillight in a Southwestern State. But we got 'him and he's currently sitting "down south" awaiting the warm and fuzzy needling. :)
Out of curiosity, which county were you in? I'm in Garland county, just outside of Lonsdale (half way between Benton and Hot Springs, don't blink, you'll miss it).
Extreme NWArkansas where the Quorum Court thought the SO should still be able to patrol the county with a horse for a bushel of oats a 5$ a month for expenses. It's gotten better since I left back in '94.
Yeah, I was at U of A a couple of years later and it was totally grown up then. Last time I was through NWA was back in 2018 or 2019 and it's gotten worse.
I wonder if people confuse search warrant, where a copy has to be handed over at the search, with an arrest warrant, where it would be improbable for all officers to carry all arrest warrants.
Old time, small town, CA dispatcher here (retired 15 years ago). I can remember when the TTY was practically the only roll paper in the building. At the time of my retirement, a CLETS/NCIC hit on a person was only an "indication" of a warrant. We'd have to telephone to confirm the warrant was still outstanding; that our subject matched and they were willing to pick up & transport the person back; and (at that time) a copy was sent to us (via CLETS). That message was the only "official" copy of the warrant. If they had sent a copy to another agency (that hadn't served it - e.g. found it was actually for someone else) and they had not cancelled that copy, they had to cancel the prior copy then send us one.
I remember, in 1973, calling to confirm one (for $40 dollars!) at 0330 hrs at a small Calif county sheriff's office and ended up awakening the Sheriff himself for the confirmation. He confirmed it and they were willing to transport, so the arrest took place. I also remember (from about the same time) of an NCIC hit on a person with an $80,000 warrant out of Alabama (they said it was for "speeding," but we suspected it was more likely something like "driving a shiny red sports car with New York plates" or similar). They didn't want to come to Calif for him. NCIC finally allowed/encouraged notations like "surrounding states only" or "not west of the Mississippi [River]" to save time.
FWIW, the process is the same in Tennessee. The only difference is our dispatchers call the other agency first then follow up with a TTY, which these days is more like an email.
THANK YOU, Ian and informative commenters! Hope that was worth the tying for you because it certainly was in the reading for me. I appreciate your efforts.
By the way, use of "fold, spindle, mutilate" dates you. Heh. I'll bet 90% of the general population doesn't know what a spindle is in the context of that use. :-) And yes, I have accidentally brought my hand down on one. Ugh. Got to be fast to keep blood off the document, but that seems to kick in automatically.
I've never been arrested or an LEO so is the person being arrested ever served a paper copy at all? Or are they, no offense, just taking the arresting officers word for it?
I have, in the past, handed a xerox copy of the warrant to the arrestee. In Texas, there are so many things that occur after the arrest, that it's really a moot point.
I imagine that if you've been misbehaving to the point that a written arrest warrant is issued, it shouldn't really be a surprise. Unless you're surprised about which crime you're being arrested for.
Current dispatcher, can confirm, though in our jurisdiction except for municipal warrants if a warrant is issued by the court it is initially entered by the court clerk into CCIC/NCIC, then our law enforcement agency is responsible for modifying the warrant to include identifying information, also called “packing” the warrant.
The packed warrant and all records pertaining to it are placed in a file and filed in a file cabinet within reach of the on duty dispatcher.
The original court issued warrant is never removed from the court and the record in the Crime Information Center secure databases is considered a cause to arrest and hold.
The only exceptions to this are municipal warrants, which are brought to dispatch to be entered manually, and overnight/weekend warrants for new offenses that are considered high priority. In that case the application for the arrest warrant is presented to the judge, the judge signs it if appropriate, and then that signed order is given to dispatch and the warrant is manually entered by dispatch. Come the next normal business hours for the court if the warrant has not been served then the court clerk will contact dispatch, we will cancel our entry, and the clerk will re enter the warrant from their side.
Yes it’s convoluted. I have to train people on it every time we get a new employee. You should see the systems we use for this stuff… but you’d have to get a qualifying job at a qualifying agency in order to do so.
Also, misuse of the systems that we have access to can not only lead to loss of access but can result in criminal charges, up to and including felony charges.
Dawn!
You know I love getting you to yell my name, Ian, but I’ve been here the whole time I just haven’t commented 😂
This kind of behind the scenes, for most any profession, are fascinating for me. Thanks for these posts and comments.
The FBI has certain stringent rules for the transmission of information. Email has to be encrypted end to end. Most warrants for other agencies are actually faxed, because the FBI considers a fax transmission secure. My agency is currently working through the process of making sure our new phone and fax (which isn’t really a fax) system that the IT department is implementing actually meets all the FBI criteria.
Current dispatcher, and LASO
Former Arkansas 9-1-1 Operator and Dispatcher. LOTS of fun in the past confirming a FELONY Want that were under LOCK and KEY with a Nationwide Jurisdiction (Y-Class Felony) and let me tell ya, kicking a Detective out of Bed at Oh-Dark-Thirty and informing him he's got 10 piddling minutes to get down to the SO and CONFIRM the Warrent was NOT FUN. Especially as the Critter was a TS for a busted taillight in a Southwestern State. But we got 'him and he's currently sitting "down south" awaiting the warm and fuzzy needling. :)
Out of curiosity, which county were you in? I'm in Garland county, just outside of Lonsdale (half way between Benton and Hot Springs, don't blink, you'll miss it).
Extreme NWArkansas where the Quorum Court thought the SO should still be able to patrol the county with a horse for a bushel of oats a 5$ a month for expenses. It's gotten better since I left back in '94.
Yeah, I was at U of A a couple of years later and it was totally grown up then. Last time I was through NWA was back in 2018 or 2019 and it's gotten worse.
An aspect I would never thought of!
I wonder if people confuse search warrant, where a copy has to be handed over at the search, with an arrest warrant, where it would be improbable for all officers to carry all arrest warrants.
Old time, small town, CA dispatcher here (retired 15 years ago). I can remember when the TTY was practically the only roll paper in the building. At the time of my retirement, a CLETS/NCIC hit on a person was only an "indication" of a warrant. We'd have to telephone to confirm the warrant was still outstanding; that our subject matched and they were willing to pick up & transport the person back; and (at that time) a copy was sent to us (via CLETS). That message was the only "official" copy of the warrant. If they had sent a copy to another agency (that hadn't served it - e.g. found it was actually for someone else) and they had not cancelled that copy, they had to cancel the prior copy then send us one.
I remember, in 1973, calling to confirm one (for $40 dollars!) at 0330 hrs at a small Calif county sheriff's office and ended up awakening the Sheriff himself for the confirmation. He confirmed it and they were willing to transport, so the arrest took place. I also remember (from about the same time) of an NCIC hit on a person with an $80,000 warrant out of Alabama (they said it was for "speeding," but we suspected it was more likely something like "driving a shiny red sports car with New York plates" or similar). They didn't want to come to Calif for him. NCIC finally allowed/encouraged notations like "surrounding states only" or "not west of the Mississippi [River]" to save time.
FWIW, the process is the same in Tennessee. The only difference is our dispatchers call the other agency first then follow up with a TTY, which these days is more like an email.
THANK YOU, Ian and informative commenters! Hope that was worth the tying for you because it certainly was in the reading for me. I appreciate your efforts.
By the way, use of "fold, spindle, mutilate" dates you. Heh. I'll bet 90% of the general population doesn't know what a spindle is in the context of that use. :-) And yes, I have accidentally brought my hand down on one. Ugh. Got to be fast to keep blood off the document, but that seems to kick in automatically.
First line my typo: Tying is typing.
I've never been arrested or an LEO so is the person being arrested ever served a paper copy at all? Or are they, no offense, just taking the arresting officers word for it?
I have, in the past, handed a xerox copy of the warrant to the arrestee. In Texas, there are so many things that occur after the arrest, that it's really a moot point.
I imagine that if you've been misbehaving to the point that a written arrest warrant is issued, it shouldn't really be a surprise. Unless you're surprised about which crime you're being arrested for.
Yep, Teletype is still a protocol in use today. And it's even been transmitted over the air as Radio Teletype, RTTY (sometimes pronounced RITY).