Ashley Meeks of the Las Cruces Sun News has a front page article this morning (click here) about the first day of the Safe Surrender program at Immaculate Heart Cathedral (1240 S. Espina). She notes that 201 persons were handled on Wednesday, and in her interviews with persons who turned themselves in the strain of always looking over your shoulder as a fugitive was a high motivator to get the problem taken care of.
Magistrate Court was pleasantly surprised by the unexpectedly high turnout and has responded by increasing the number of judges assigned to the program, which runs from 9 to 4 through Saturday.
Under the program those persons who have ignored legal citations can turn themselves in without fear of arrest, and take care of pleas, payment schedules for fines, and other legal issues. This is the carrot motivating attendance. The stick is that law enforcement officials are gearing up to make sweeping arrests of persons with outstanding warrants immediately after the safe surrender program ends, in other words the long arm of the law.
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