Officials are "pleasantly surprised."
Within the first hour, about 100 people showed up this afternoon to turn themselves in to clear outstanding warrants under a first-time program for the city of Syracuse.Syracuse, NY -- A program that allows people to clear outstanding warrants drew about 100 people an hour after it began at noon Friday in the Onondaga County Criminal Courthouse.
“Pleasantly surprised,” was the official response to the line of folks drawn to the first day of Operation Safe Surrender, a program that allows people to clear outstanding warrants quickly and, depending on the underlying charge, without posting bail.
Judge Theodore H. Limpert was handling the arraignments and most were out in about 10 minutes after their case was called. Most of those who appeared early in the day were people with traffic violations.
Limpert dismissed some tickets, levied fines on the rest and sent the people out of the courtroom with a reminder of how much they owed and when the had to pay it.
The only glitch was in getting records to the judge in a timely manner, Sgt. Tom Connellan said. More people were added in the Syracuse Police Records Division and as runners to take the records to the judge.
Operation Safe Surrender continues until 6 p.m. today and will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. It is the first time that the city of Syracuse has offered such a program.