It may have only seemed like a dent in their enormous caseload of 5,000 outstanding warrants, but the Bradley County Sheriff’s Fugitive Warrant Unit ~ with a little help from their friends ~  managed to serve 100 felony and misdemeanor warrants last week.

Lt. Eric Watson of the Court Services and Fugitive Warrants Unit said BCSO joined ranks with the TBI, U.S. Marshall’s Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives, and U.S. Attorney to launch a warrant blitz code-named “Operation: Take-Down.”“We had over 20 Bradley County deputies and special agents working this thing over a four-day period last week ~ from Wednesday to Saturday,” Watson said. “We managed to serve or clear somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 outstanding warrants.”Watson, who also serves as state representative in the 22nd District, said that maybe 100 warrants didn’t sound like a lot when compared to the 5,000 backlog, but it was a start.“These weren’t new warrants,” Watson said. “They were from previous attempts that were unsuccessful. It’s not always easy to locate felons, or even misdemeanor cases, because of their transient nature ~ these people tend to move around a lot and don’t usually leave forwarding addresses. So I guess we have to take our successes where we can get them. And some of these warrants were for robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, drug possession, some of them were failure to pay child support, and some of them were fugitive warrants. So, all things considered, I don’t think 100, give or take, is too bad.”

Sheriff Tim Gobble commended the BCSO Fugitive Warrant Unit on what he called a successful operation.“The backlog of unserved warrants was one of the main areas I wanted to focus on when I took office, “ the Sheriff said. “It’s important that we get these cases cleared for a number of reasons; but mainly, some of these people we’re trying to serve are guilty of serious crime and they need to be off the street, not just chased off into another county. I appreciate the help of the other state and federal agencies that joined with us and I appreciate the hard work of our Fugitive Warrant Unit. They all did a good job and I think the fact that they cleared 100 cases in four days in quite an accomplishment.

“When Sheriff Gobble took office,” Watson said, “he moved some people around and redistributed some resources to better accommodate the problem of warrant backlog. In the past, this was an area that had been somewhat understaffed and neglected. Operation: Take-Down is a good example of better management of resources within the department, and better cooperation with state and federal law enforcement agencies.”

The Bradley County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the federal and state agencies involved in Operation: TakeDown, are all active in Project Safe Neighborhoods, which focuses on fighting residential theft, gang activity and illegal drugs in our community.