Career Offender Absconder Initiative

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

The Miami-Dade County (MDC) region has the highest population of registered career offenders in the state of Florida, presently 1,444. In late 2014, the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) Career Criminal Unit (CCU) identified a significant number of these individuals that were failing to comply with mandatory state registration requirements, which is a third degree felony. A comprehensive review of the absconder program, and current policies and procedures, was conducted and revealed deficiencies in effectively addressing the non-compliance of these career violent offenders. In an effort to address the danger presented by these violent offenders, policy was revised and established the issuance of wanted probable cause messages for all absconders. Through discussions with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office (SAO), the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), and MDPD, an agreement to issue warrants for these individuals in MDC was established. Due to this, the Warrants Bureau has expanded efforts to locate these absconders by providing the wanted information to local, state, and federal agencies. Past behavior has identified that career offenders have the highest probability of recidivism, which poses a significant threat to the citizens of MDC. Thus far, these efforts have produced a 44 percent reduction of absconders within MDC.