Police vow to ‘come and find’ bail dodgers
The Government and police have launched a new drive to ensure all those who are bailed do turn up at court.
Currently almost one in eight of defendants granted bail fails to turn up in court at the appointed time – causing delays and disruption to the criminal justice system.
Now the police are to run a series of local blitzes in England and Wales – Operation Turn-up – to target those who fail to turn-up.
Individuals with two failure to attend (FTA) warrants issued against them will be targeted and escorted to court by police. The Government was keen to stress that this would not just be a short-term measure, but heralded a different approach to how bail offences were dealt with.
Launching the scheme in Wakefield, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith said: “We are cracking down on bail bandits. We will not tolerate people who skip bail. My message today is that if you don’t turn up at court when you are meant to, the justice system will track you down to face justice. My advice to those who have skipped bail is to surrender now rather than wait for the police to come and get you.”
He emphasised that Operation Turn-up was designed to complement existing court and police strategies such as “ensuring that defendants given bail understand the consequences of failing to appear. In some areas, defendants are also being sent reminders via phone when their court date is imminent.
“Operation Turn-up will complement these efforts. It will reduce outstanding warrants and help local criminal justice boards achieve their wider aims of bringing more offences to justice and increasing public confidence in the criminal justice system.”
The Association of Chief Police Officers lead on warrants, Robert Taylor, said: “We have been working closely with our criminal justice partners on the planning of this operation, and everyone involved is committed to making sure that defendants who abscond on bail are dealt with robustly. Our message to defendants is clear – if you are wanted on warrant in any of our force areas, give yourself up before we come and find you.”
