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Warrants after Dark: The process behind late night standoff situations

When arrest warrants are needed county employees are standing by to help.

BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — From traffic stops to arrest, most people know the law does not sleep or take a night off, but when major situations happen late at night, on-call law enforcement officials and county employees cooperate efficiently in a decades-old system. 

At roughly 10 p.m., March 18th 2019 Jeanette Castillo pointed a gun at her neighbor then barricaded herself inside her home.

Castillo was armed and refuse to leave the home for some time.

Bryan police arrived to the scene, but they needed a warrant before SWAT could be called to breach the home.

But by that time, most county employees are in bed. 

A SWAT team eventually did breach the home and arrested her at around 1:30 a.m.

But before that could happen, came a process not many can explain.

Brazos County Chief Deputy, Jim Stewart deals with these kind of situations.

Stewart said, “If someone is barricaded, and they’re not a threat to themselves or others, then we’ll just set up a perimeter. Reach out to the district attorney’s office, articulate what are facts are.”

Jessica Escue, the Brazos County Assistant District Attorney, also comes into play.

"We have an on-call district attorney who is on-call 24 hours a day, and that rotates and they will communicate with us. So if an additional arrest warrant needs to be obtained, they will send us what they call a probable cause statement; which is kind of a statement of what’s going on and why we believe there’s sufficient evidence to make entry and to arrest a person for an offense.”

After the DA's office reviews that statement and drafts the arrest warrant, it goes back to the deputies for a final draft to sent to the DA. Then, depending on the hour, it’s time to wake up a judge.

Chief Deputy Steward said that in most cases, deputies will drive to an on-call judges home, and sit down with them while they read the probable cause statement.

After the judge reads the statement, they will sign off on the arrest warrant.

The warrant will then go back to whatever law enforcement agency is involved in the situation and enter it into a database making it active. 

Escue said “once that’s done, then they can enter the home and arrest the individual.”

In this day and age, it can be easy to think that can all be done in a few texts, but for many areas like Brazos County, it can be a lengthy process.

Technology hasn’t quite caught up to today’s expectations.

In this day and age, faxes are relics to many, but are still in use to get arrest warrants.

“You can’t just call up a judge and say ‘hey judge’ this is what we have and the judge says ‘hey you’re good to go. You have to have a paper system whereby everything can be transferred so everything can be looked at independently so everyone can make sure what the facts are," Escue said.

The paper trail isn’t just for piece of mind. It’s your right.

The fourth amendment specifies that officers can’t go into people’s homes without warrants in certain circumstances.

With all the red tape, that process can sometimes take hours. Leaving the public on edge. 

But law enforcement says the system works.

"What we do with warrants is what has proven to be reliable in court; what judges have signed off on. So until another jurisdiction comes up with a different way and it makes it to the supreme court and the supreme court signs off on it, it will remain that way,” Escue said.

For how much longer? It remains to be seen.

Escue acknowledged the advancement of technology and how it could, some day, expedite the legal process "but there is a certain set of requirements we have to meet in order for it to be constitutional."

Chief Deputy Stewart said “we’re not at the point yet where it’s worthwhile to invest in that technology, but you’ll see that in your lifetime for sure around here.”

But for now, police say the technology fits, with life safety as the main priority.

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