PHILLIPS COUNTY, Ark. (KTHV) - More felony cases could be dropped over time from Phillips County, in addition to the 197 cases THV's Dustin Wilson reported last week.
This came after the sheriff's department failed to serve warrants and input data to the Arkansas Crime Information Center, or A.C.I.C.
The prosecuting attorney, Fletcher Long, told Today's THV that more cases will likely be dropped over time as his office continues to go through the older files from the Phillips County Sheriff's Department. He says most of the cases dropped so far are almost exclusively property crimes of burglary and theft, along with some that are drug-related.
Long is forced to drop them due to lack of evidence, witnesses, and in some cases, the arresting deputy no longer works with the sheriff's department.
Long says that so far, he's dropped no violent crimes, but that could happen down the road.
THV's Dustin Wilson spoke with the A.C.I.C. Tuesday and learned that the Phillips County Sheriff's Department contracts with Marvell police to input crime information. Brad Cozart, A.C.I.C. administrator, says the problem does not stem from the process.
"You input a warrant, somebody's got to be there in case it gets hit on at 2 o'clock in the morning somewhere else in the state or the country to let them know that that warrant is still valid or not valid. Whether you need to hold that person or not. That would always happen for warrants that are in the system. Having that kind of set up has nothing to do with whether they choose to enter a warrant or not," says Cozart.
Long says he is unsure when the sheriff's department fell out of compliance.