CLEVELAND — In northeast Ohio, a team working with the U.S. Marshals Service helps to take about 70 fugitives off the streets each month.
Each day, U.S. Marshals across the country arrest more than 300 fugitives, and each day brings something different for Chris Snack.
As a deputy U.S. Marshal, he’s part of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force, helping track down those with outstanding warrants and bring them to justice.
“The volume of crime and the cases that we’re getting from the cites is not — we’re not short for it,” Snack said.
Representatives from about a dozen different state and local law enforcement agencies work together.
“Every one of them has 10 to 20 cases they want to get done, so pick the best cases and we’ll map out the day,” he said.
They spend a lot of time on the road, picking up cases where they’re left off.
“Once we get a case, it’s almost been deemed as being extremely dangerous and/or that the person’s going to be hard to catch,” he said.
As a federal agency, the deputy U.S. Marshals can go the distance by crossing jurisdictions and not stopping until the person’s in custody.
“The challenge is, to me, that’s part of the fun of it,” Snack said. “Getting able to work through a problem and we end up being the solution.”
The team helps bring closure to people’s families.
“At the very least, we could give them the comfort of knowing that that person isn’t out on the street running free or committing other crimes,” he said.
It makes northeast Ohio safer for everyone.
“It’s a fight worth fighting, so it’s a give and take there,” Snack said. “We just do our best to maintain that level of safety and bring all our guys home every night.”
