19 Arrested in Warrant Sweep in Champaign County

Nineteen arrests were made arrested Thursday in Champaign-Urbana and nearby, in a county-wide sweep targeting people with outstanding warrants.

Champaign Police organized the sweep with the U-S Marshal’s Service. Police Lieutenant Dave Shaffer says the Illinois State Police, the FBI, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, the Champaign County Sheriff's Department and probation services, the Urbana Police Department and the University of Illinois police also participated in the effort.

Shaffer says the sweep was partly a reaction to a recent rise in violent crime.

“We looked at this as an opportunity to try and locate some of those individuals that we know that are wanted" said Shaffer, "as well as provide a visible law enforcement presence in the areas where we know that there are hot spots, and that we are receiving a lot of calls for service and crime-related activity.”

A special sweeps detail made 18 arrests during an 8 and 1/2 hour period on Thursday. A member of the detail also helped Champaign Police in the 19th arrest. In that instance, a man with a handgun was arrested, following a report of shots fired in the Bristol Place neighborhood.

Lieutenant Shaffer says police didn’t find all the suspects they were looking for in the sweep, but developed new leads that could result in more arrests in the near future.