News: Press Releases

DOC "Most Wanted" List at Two-Year Low

RICHMOND – The Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) announced today that the number of Probation and Parole absconders has been reduced by approximately 40 percent in just two years, with the number of Parole Board Warrants being reduced from about 1,000 to less than 600.
“In 1998 we orchestrated a major shift in the methods used to locate and arrest Probation and Parole absconders,” said DOC Director Ron Angelone. “Our Community Corrections Adult Probation and Parole Unit was to review all outstanding fugitive warrants, identify those fugitives who represented the greatest threat to public safety and then develop and employ new and innovative strategies to locate and arrest them.”

The shift in Departmental philosophy and the resulting strategies included the creation of a “Most Wanted” web page on the DOC web site in December 1999. This site, after only 11 months of operation, has helped precipitate the arrest of 21 dangerous felons of the 39 listed.

Another approach was the appointment of a Virginia Probation and Parole Officer to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)-led Richmond Area Task Force (RAFT). RAFT is a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement team whose sole purpose is to locate and arrest dangerous fugitives in the Richmond-Metropolitan area. DOC participation in RAFT has resulted in the arrest of 214 Probation and Parole fugitives.

As part of this initiative, DOC also created the Fugitive Recovery Team. Since its creation this past April, the team has arrested 71 dangerous Virginia fugitives nationwide through the cooperation of national law enforcement authorities.