Jail Enforcement Transport System

About the Program

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

Year: 2014

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (M.C.S.O.) is solely responsible for moving felons arrested/wanted in other jurisdictions into/out of the Maricopa County. Hundreds of movements and thousands of documents flow through the extradition unit on a yearly basis. Added to mix are the teams of deputy sheriffs and detention officers who crisscross the Country escorting these suspects to their final destination. In March of 2012, the Sheriff’s Extradition unit was tasked with developing procedural changes to the established extradition process that would improve the efficiency of the unit and identify cost savings measures that could be implemented. Any changes must be accomplished while still maintaining the goal of returning to Maricopa County, Arizona all wanted suspects being held in the custody of other law enforcement jurisdictions outside of the State (once they had completed all legal proceedings there), comply with all judicial process requirements, cost savings must be measurable, and all actions must be in the best interest of the citizens of Maricopa County. Once identified and implemented these new procedures, when compared to operations before these actions, resulted in increased suspect movement while decreasing the overall number of trips and, a savings of taxpayer dollars was achieved. This efficiency consisted of being mindful of fiscal responsibilities while maintaining services levels.