More than 20,000 criminal warrants will be purged from the Seattle Municipal Court's computer system this weekend, effectively letting wanted criminals off the hook for pre-1994 offenses.

"Excluded are warrants for domestic violence and real serious kinds of things," said court spokeswoman Patti McBride.

Dumping old cases is something the court does annually, but the number is two to four times higher than in previous years, McBride said. Part of the reason could be a new "sunset warrant policy," a collaborative effort by court officials and the Seattle Police Department that went into effect in May, she said. The new policy allows for destruction of certain warrants if they haven't been served after seven years.

"I can't speak to why it's built up to that extent," McBride said of the estimated 21,000 files to be purged.

In a press release issued yesterday, officials with Teamsters Local 763 criticized the city of Seattle for cutting staff and failing to enter up to 70 percent of outstanding warrants into the state's Wanted Criminal Database, making it difficult for police to identify people evading arrest. Local 763 represents Seattle Municipal Court employees and Seattle Police warrant officers.

Warrants for crimes such as breaking into cars, theft, assault and criminal trespass — along with traffic charges including hit-and-run — are among those being canceled.

"The dumping of these older cases is obviously an effort to thwart the controversy of the city allowing nearly 40,000 outstanding arrests to go unserved," the release said.

The release said the problem is only going to get worse, as three warrant officers are to be laid off Jan. 1. Local 763 spokesman Dave D'Andrea couldn't be reached last night for comment.

Seattle Times

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