See if your local police fail to chase down fugitives

Across the United States, tens of thousands of wanted felons can escape justice by crossing a state border because police agencies have already decided not to retrieve them. These agencies issue non-extradition warrants, which means they will not leave their state to arrest fugitives, even if they are already in custody. See where your state and local agencies stand.

  • U.S.
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  • SELECTED AGENCY

    • 0%

    25%

    50%

    75%

    100%

     Percent of felony warrants that are not extraditable
USA TODAY could not identify any state agencies in the FBI's database.
USA TODAY could not identify any local agencies in the FBI’s database.
Warrants from Washington, D.C. are handled by federal law enforcement agencies, which are able to move suspects from one state to another without extraditing them.
Methodology

When local or state police issue a warrant for an alleged suspect, they enter a numeric code into the Wanted Persons File, a national FBI database that indicates how far, if at all, they are willing to travel to collect fugitives. If they won’t cross state lines, the warrant is labeled as non-extradition. USA TODAY obtained a copy of the database, but the FBI did not release the names of the police agencies that were seeking the fugitives, instead identifying them only with codes. Using additional records from the U.S. Justice Department, the New York State Police, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and other state agencies, USA TODAY was able to identify most of the agencies listed and tally the total number of warrants and the number of those labeled non-extradition.