Ride-along with Memphis Safe Task Force reveals hard work that goes into warrant searches
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - The Memphis Safe Task Force warrant strike teams do nothing but serve warrants. That’s their expertise.
To serve a warrant, you have to find a fugitive who may go to any lengths to escape capture. Using modern technology, combined with good, old-fashioned detective work, the strike teams, led by the U.S. Marshals Service, track and arrest with fine-tuned skill.
On a bitterly cold Tuesday in the Bluff City, with a bone-chilling “feels like” temperature of 28 degrees Fahrenheit, the task force was hot on the trail of a man wanted on a warrant for felony fleeing, evading law enforcement in a manner that put others in danger.
The strike team Action News 5 rode with was made up of agents from the FBI, Homeland Security and Diplomatic Security, who sprang into action when all team members were in place at the Orange Mound apartment where they believed the suspect to be.
With the flick of a switch, the sound of sirens filled the courtyard, blue and red lights started flashing brightly on one of the government SUVs, as an agent’s voice said on a loudspeaker:
“Carlos Tate, this is the U.S. Marshals. Come to the door!”
A young man quickly appeared, hands in the air, a knife in one hand.
“Drop the knife! Drop the knife,” the voice on the loudspeaker ordered. As the man complied, the next order was, “Walk to your left. Walk to your left... walk back to me,” which he did before he was quickly placed in handcuffs, with arms behind his back.
Getting to this point took time and a lot of research. Analysts with the U.S. Marshals Service tracked the suspect using computer records first, then agents in the field went old school, asking around about him.
“It means getting up very early in the morning,” Deputy U.S. Marshal Mark Blackwood told Action News 5, “and doing everything from surveillance to interviews with associates, family members, sometimes even victims to find locations of places that they may be staying, they may be working, anything like that.”
On this mission, the strike team asked the property manager which unit the suspect stayed in, and even got a key to his apartment. Using a map of the complex, the team figured out where to place agents and called in reinforcement, cutting off any pathways to escape.
Two agents opened a locked metal gate to walk around to the rear of the apartment building to make sure he didn’t take off through the back door.
What happened next happened very quickly: Agents in two government vehicles drove up over the sidewalk, through the grass and into the courtyard, parking directly in front of the suspect’s apartment. Three more task force vehicles blocked the road in the complex.
As all of this was taking place, a FedEx delivery man dropped off two packages at the adjacent building, picking up his pace when he saw the agents draw their guns, rush toward the suspect’s apartment, loudly announcing their presence, which is where this story originally began.
“Carlos Tate, this is the U.S. Marshals. Come to the door!”
Deputy U.S. Marshal Blackwood said the wanted felon they were searching for has gun, drug, aggravated assault and robbery charges on his record. But the young man they placed in handcuffs isn’t their guy; he’s the suspect’s brother. Agents quickly question him.
“Any guns in there?” one agent asked.
“No, sir,” the young man politely and respectfully replied.
“When did he leave?” the agents asked.
“He left like an hour ago, sir,” replied the suspect’s brother.
While two task force members talked with him, four other agents entered the apartment, making sure the suspect was indeed not there.
Neighbors watched intently through their metal security doors.
“You see anything like this before?” Action News 5 reporter Joyce Peterson asked one neighbor.
“Yeah,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“What do you think of the federal surge?” was the next question.
“Don’t know,” he said, “but it caught me off-guard.”
Another neighbor told Action News 5 this was a first for him, seeing the Memphis Safe Task Force in operation.
“Have you seen anything like this before?” he was asked.
“Nah... not in person,” he replied.
“What do you think about it?” said the reporter.
“It’s alright,” he said, “as long as they get their man.”
No luck on this stop. The wanted fugitive successfully avoided capture on this day, bolting before agents arrived. But the Memphis Safe Task Force is just getting started.
“I feel like it’s pretty transparent what we’re doing here,” said Blackwood, “What the purpose is... and there’s nothing really hidden behind the scenes. It’s high visibility, proactive. Warrant services is trying to get criminals off the street, and at the same time, you know, having law enforcement present reduces future crime.”
The warrant strike teams track down fugitives anywhere: Work, home, even a hotel or motel. Deputy U.S. Marshal Blackwood said agents can ask to see the guest registry to check if a suspect is hiding out there.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office says there are 20,000 outstanding warrants in the county, and 10,000 of them are for violent offenders, now being targeted by the task force.
At last check, the task force had made more than 3,500 arrests since arriving in Memphis in late September.
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