MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas — U.S. Marshals, Conroe police and other agencies arrested more than 70 fugitives during a five-day crackdown earlier this month, authorities announced Tuesday.
The early August law enforcement effort, dubbed Operation Heatwave, led to 71 arrests and 91 felony warrants cleared.
Authorities said some fugitives were tracked down to other states, including Georgia.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Conroe Police Chief Jon Buckholtz said during a news conference announcing the results.
Buckholtz, who took over as Conroe’s police chief in February, said he initiated the operation after learning of a significant backlog of unserved warrants.
“It just wasn’t a number I was willing to accept, so we are taking a very proactive approach,” Buckholtz said. “Our clearance rate was not where we would like it to be for our citizens.”
Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle echoed those concerns.
In an interview conducted during the week of Operation Heatwave, he revealed that when he entered office in January, there were about 2,700 unserved felony warrants in the county.
“When you see you have 2,700 unserved felony warrants, it’s concerning,” Doolittle said. “I would tell you that any number of outstanding warrants that poses a threat to the county concerns me.”
Nearly 50 local officers from the Conroe Police Department and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office were deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service to participate in the fugitive roundup.
The Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force and more than a dozen other local agencies also took part.
“When I say I have the willpower at the district attorney’s office, and we point to the resources in the state of Texas and our partners, we mean what we say,” Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said.
Officials said the arrests targeted offenders wanted for crimes such as possession of a controlled substance, possession of child pornography, assault, family violence and other crimes.
Buckholtz said Conroe police have since created a crime reduction unit that will continue focusing on tracking down fugitives and streamlining the warrant process.
“We will continue to search out these absconders, hold them accountable, and let these victims have their day in court,” Buckholtz said.
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