Sheriff's office tries to catch the wind

More than 20 police officers fanned out through Lake County's northern shoreline communities early Tuesday seeking fugitives wanted on outstanding arrest warrants.

Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said the sweep kicked off a two-day operation to reduce the backlog of 17,000 warrants normally held by his office at any one time.

Most are for people arrested by other police agencies who fail to show up for a court appearance, thereby transferring the responsibility of keeping track of them to Curran's office.

And catching them, in many cases, is like trying to catch the wind.

"These guys do not stay in one place too long," Curran said. "They bounce addresses; they are here, there and everywhere, and all we can do is keep trying to run them down."

Sgt. Michael Gregory said roughly 200 subjects of warrants no older than two years -- last known to be in Zion, Waukegan and North Chicago -- were targeted.

The more recent warrants, out of a collection dating to the late 1970s, had the most recent information on a subject's whereabouts and offered police the greatest chance for success, he said.

The suspects were involved in cases ranging from felony driving offenses to armed robbery, officials said.

Sheriff's deputies were joined by officers from Zion, Winthrop Harbor, the state police and a state's attorney's office investigator for the effort that ends today.

Even with roughly five times the number of officers than the four who comprise Curran's warrants division, the task proved daunting.

At the end of Tuesday's effort, eight offenders were in custody, Sgt. Christopher Thompson said.

Gregory said the searchers are aided by information from the public, Lake County Crime Stoppers and other government agencies.

Police may have picked up another ally Tuesday when a Zion man became upset at being rousted from his sleep just after 6 a.m. by officers pounding on his door.

The police explained they were looking for his son, and the man replied he had no idea where the kid was but would try to find out.

"If I can find him, I will bring him to you myself," the man shouted. "I don't want to go through this stuff again."