Acting Brooklyn DA Dismisses Over 100,000 Old Warrants For Minor Offenses

Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Wednesday morning the dismissal of 143,532 summons warrants that were issued ten years ago or more.

These dismissals are part of an effort by the Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens District Attorneys who have dismissed approximately 645,000 old summons warrants in total.

The dismissed summons warrants were issued for failure to pay tickets for minor offenses such as riding a bicycle on the sidewalk, drinking beer in public, disorderly conduct, and being in a park after dark.

Along with the 143,532 warrants dismissed in Brooklyn, approximately 160,000 were dismissed in the Bronx, 240,500 in Manhattan, and 100,000 in Queens.

“The dismissal of the warrants poses no risk to public safety as those individuals whose warrants are being dismissed have not been arrested in the past 10 years or their warrants would have been triggered,” according to a press release from Gonzalez’s office.

When left unresolved, individuals issued these warrants face automatic arrest when questioned by the police on the street or during traffic stops. The warrants also negatively impact their applications for citizenship, employment, or public housing. Undocumented immigrants with warrants face deportation.

“Warrants for petty crimes are disproportionately dispensed in our most vulnerable communities, where they make it even more difficult for New Yorkers to get housing, jobs, and even citizenship,” Public Advocate Letitia James said in the release. “By dismissing old warrants for minor offenses, District Attorney Gonzalez is taking action to prevent a minor mistake from causing a lifetime of suffering.”

The dismissals in the four boroughs “drastically” reduce the backlog of warrants. In 2015, with more than 1 million outstanding summons warrants across the city, late Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson introduced the “Begin Again” program in which his office hosted events to forgive warrants. More than 3,000 warrant holders attended these events and more than 2,100 summons warrants were dismissed, according to the release.

“Today, we took an important step in showing our commitment to improved relations between law enforcement and the community, and our focus on violent crimes instead of petty offenses,” Gonzalez said at today’s press conference. “This action allows us, the courts and the NYPD to divert resources away from low-level warrants and towards serious offenses.”