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NOPD’s Violent Offender Warrant Squad Tracks Down the Bad Guys and Brings Them to Justice

by Dawne Massey

January 23, 2017

Categories: On the Beat

Topics: Good Police Work

NOPD’s Violent Offender Warrant Squad Tracks Down the Bad Guys and Brings Them to Justice

The Violent Offender Warrant Squad (VOWS) is responsible for tracking down individuals who are wanted for serious crimes and apprehending suspects with outstanding warrants. This unit operates within the NOPD’s Special Operations Division and works in conjunction with the United States Marshals Office Fugitive Task Force.

On a daily basis, VOWS team members handle a variety of cases including murder, rape, armed robberies, burglary, and aggravated Assault. The unit aggressively researches and gathers Intelligence that leads to locating wanted suspects and works closely with the Homicide and Sex Crimes divisions as well as detectives from all eight NOPD districts. 

Currently the VOWS unit consists of two sergeants and nine detectives, with one detective serving as a liaison to the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Region Fugitive Task Force. The detective assigned the to the U.S. Marshals handles “hot cases” such as perpetrators on violent crime sprees, violent offenders with warrants from other states or parishes that have fled to Orleans Parish, or any high priority or high profile cases. He also handles violent offenders that are wanted from Orleans Parish but flee to other states or parishes by sending information, known as “collateral leads” to the Marshals’ other Task Force teams to search for and apprehend wanted individuals. VOWS also includes an Extradition Unit with a detective assigned to handling the in- and out-of- state transportation of violent offenders.

The current VOWS team includes two bomb techs, a sniper, a firearms Instructor and underwater dive operators. The unit members also have various additional duties including SWAT rolls, tactical assistance on block searches with Canine Units, duty officers, Dive Team search and rescue, responding to terrorist attacks, and serving high-risk warrants for all of the NOPD.  VOWS assists the NOPD Training Academy staff with Active Shooter Training for district officers and academy recruits.

In order to become a member of VOWS, an officer must have at least five years of tactical training and experience.

“This experience is required because of the high risk that comes with searching homes for wanted subjects as part of the team’s daily operations,”  said Michael Crawford. “The experience and knowledge that this team shares has kept us safe since the VOWS Unit was reestablished in 2006 – within that time frame no VOWS team members or perpetrators have been injured.”

VOWS unit members also incorporate weekly training into their regular schedules in order to stay sharp and make any necessary improvements in their everyday assignments.

In 2016, the VOWS Unit made 523 apprehensions, including arrests for:

Drug Violations – 9

Guns – 6

Court Capias – 49 

Fugitive Arrest – 75 

Other State Arrest – 77

Attempted Murder/Murder– 24

Aggravated Rape/Simple Rape – 39 

Aggravated Battery/Simple Battery – 105

Armed Robbery/ Simple Robbery – 44

Aggravated Burglary/ Burglary – 51

Theft/Possession of Stolen Property – 9 

Municipal Arrest – 3 

Municipal Attachment Arrest – 32