{"id":24754,"date":"2017-06-21T09:03:03","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T13:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=24754"},"modified":"2017-06-21T09:03:05","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T13:03:05","slug":"sheriffs-fugitive-unit-keeps-under-the-radar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=24754","title":{"rendered":"Sheriff’s fugitive unit keeps under the radar"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Members of the Sheriff\u2019s Office Fugitive Apprehension Unit don some of the equipment they wear on the job.<\/p><\/div>\n

WEST CHESTER \u2014 It comes as no surprise that few people know much about the Chester County Sheriff\u2019s Office Fugitive Apprehension Unit: It often works under cover of darkness.<\/p>\n

Before most county residents have awakened, the eight members of this elite team have donned 35 pounds of equipment \u2013 about 10 more than a typical deputy sheriff \u2013 and headed out to find people committed to remaining under the radar.<\/p>\n

The team made headlines recently when it located Barry Baker, the fugitive accused of sucker-punching a man with cerebral palsy outside a West Chester convenience store last month.<\/p>\n

Baker\u2019s apprehension, accomplished with assistance from the U.S. Marshals and Sheriff\u2019s Office K-9 Unit, capped a weeks-long search that benefited from tips from the public and spanned the tri-state area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an outstanding example of good cooperation with multiple agencies,\u201d said Chester County Sheriff Carolyn \u201cBunny\u201d Welsh. \u201cWe\u2019ve been fortunate to not only work with the marshals but also train with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Baker was fortunate that the Fugitive Apprehension Unit, the K-9 Unit, and the U.S. Marshals were able to pick him up,\u201d Welsh continued. \u201cThere were a lot of very angry citizens looking for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cpl. Joseph E. Woulfe, who heads the unit, said his team has apprehended 50 wanted subjects so far this year, serving an additional 30 warrants because, in the process, it located other fugitives.<\/p>\n

Woulfe said one of the individuals apprehended had 11 active warrants, issued out of three different counties, while another, picked up with the assistance of Pennsylvania State Police, had been on the lam for nearly a decade. The charges ranged from summary offenses to violent felonies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of what they\u2019ve accomplished,\u201d Chief Deputy Jason Suydam said of the unit. \u201cFifty is a pretty impressive number.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suydam said it\u2019s difficult to know whether the arrests broke any office records because statistics weren\u2019t compiled during the first few years of the unit\u2019s operation, which started in 2010. However, he pointed out that even though the vast majority of the wanted subjects work to avoid detection, members of the Fugitive Apprehension Unit work harder to stay a step ahead of them.<\/p>\n

In addition to the routine training regimen that all deputies perform, the Fugitive Apprehension Unit members log an additional 100 hours of SWAT drills, firearms instruction, and physical fitness training. The latter is particularly essential, Woulfe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wear heavier ballistic gear but have to be able to react to what many fugitives do when they see us, which is run,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Woulfe said subjects that don\u2019t flee often hide and have been found in locations ranging from closets to car trunks. One defendant even hollowed out a dresser so he could squeeze inside it.<\/p>\n

The team gets its targets from a variety of sources and pursues them at all hours of the day and night, both within and beyond county borders.<\/p>\n

Sometimes another department, such as Adult Probation or Domestic Relations, will request assistance in locating defendants; at other times, the unit focuses on the county\u2019s most-wanted list \u2013 a collaboration with the District Attorney\u2019s Office \u2013 or the database maintained by the county\u2019s Warrant Enforcement Bureau.<\/p>\n

With higher-risk cases, the unit will enlist the aid of the K-9 Unit. \u201cMost defendants think twice about running when they see a dog,\u201d Woulfe said.<\/p>\n

Members of the team maintain a heightened passion for what they do; hitting roadblocks only strengthens their resolve, Woulfe said.<\/p>\n

He recalled one defendant who managed to evade capture after a pursuit through the woods. Undaunted, the unit regrouped with a different strategy \u2013 and a K-9 team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the process of apprehending him, we came in contact with family members who also had warrants so we took multiple people into custody,\u201d Woulfe said.<\/p>\n

In addition, the former escape artist ended up getting state prison time after fleeing-apprehension charges were added to his rap sheet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat one ended up being pretty satisfying,\u201d Woulfe said. \u201cIt was gratifying for the team not only because they did so much work, but also because we knew the community was safer with that individual off the street.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WEST CHESTER \u2014 It comes as no surprise that few people know much about the Chester County Sheriff\u2019s Office Fugitive Apprehension Unit: It often works under cover of darkness. Before most county residents have awakened, the eight members of this elite team have donned 35 pounds of equipment \u2013 about 10 more than a typical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8960,15,9079,4897],"class_list":["post-24754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-barry-baker","tag-chester-county","tag-fugitive-unit","tag-sheriffs-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24755,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24754\/revisions\/24755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}