If you have a warrant in another city in Florida, it means that a judge has authorized law enforcement agencies to arrest you based on probable cause that you have committed a crime. This legal document empowers the authorities to take you into custody, which can happen at any moment and in any setting. The type of warrant you have, whether an arrest warrant or a bench warrant, can influence law enforcement’s actions.
An arrest warrant is a document issued by a judge to law enforcement over an alleged crime, allowing the police to arrest and detain a suspect until a hearing. If you have left the state with an outstanding warrant against you, you may not learn of it until another event occurs, such as an employment background check. An individual who has committed a serious, violent crime and has a felony arrest warrant issued against them may be subject to extradition from their home state to Florida. This means the individual will be arrested in another state and brought back to Florida, where they will remain in custody until the trial.
A bench warrant, on the other hand, is usually issued when an individual fails to show up for court. This can happen for severe crimes and even traffic citations; once a Florida bench warrant is out there, it’s treated just like any other warrant. If the crime is severe enough or of a particular type (such as misdemeanor sexual offenses), then they can issue a state bench warrant and hold you. They will only incarcerate you locally and work with the other state to extradite you.
You can search for an outstanding arrest warrant for free on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) website using the Florida Criminal Information Center (FCIC) Public Records Search Page. If the warrant is not listed on the FDLE site, go to the county’s sheriff’s office website where the crime allegedly occurred.
Inter-County Cooperation and Arrest Warrants in Florida
According to the Florida Statutes, a judge shall issue an arrest warrant upon examination of the complaint and proofs submitted if satisfied that probable cause exists for issuing an arrest warrant for any crime committed within the judge’s jurisdiction. The warrant can be issued for various reasons, including extradition, failure to appear, felony arrest, and probation violation.
The authority to execute and serve arrest warrants is vested in the county sheriff where the arrest is made. This authority can be delegated by appointing special deputy sheriffs to perform this function. However, there are numerous situations in which law enforcement officers, not limited to the sheriff or deputy sheriffs, may arrest a person without a warrant.
In terms of inter-county cooperation, the Florida Sheriffs Association has a Task Force that pools resources from the 67 sheriffs’ offices to address specific areas of concern. After Florida’s Mutual Aid Act took effect in 1984, the sheriffs were given a better system for working together during emergency operations, including built-in legal protections.
What is the process for transferring an arrest warrant between counties in Florida?
In Florida, when an arrest warrant is issued in one county, and the person is arrested in another county, the process for transferring the warrant involves several steps. First, the court clerk from which the warrant was issued must transmit the papers in the proceeding, or certified copies thereof, to the court of competent jurisdiction clerk in the county where the defendant was arrested. The prosecution then continues in the county where the arrest was made.
If the individual is arrested in a county other than the one where the warrant was issued, the court may prefer to allow the individual to voluntarily return to the issuing county and avoid the expense of extradition, particularly in violation of probation cases. In such cases, an attorney can petition the court in Florida to withdraw the warrant temporarily, allowing the person to be released from custody in the other county and voluntarily return to Florida for a court appearance.
The authority to execute and serve arrest warrants is vested in the Sheriff of the county where the arrest is made, and this authority can be delegated by appointing special deputy sheriffs to perform this function.
