Safe Surrender allows Brooklyn residents to come to church and have their outstanding warrants and summons adjudicated. The program is a partnership between my office, the Brooklyn clergy, the New York State Office of Court Administration, The Legal Aid Society and the NYPD. 

Last month’s Project Safe Surrender was a tremendous success. We resolved a total of 765 summonses. Approximately 1,500 people have participated since the program began in 2010. These participants can now qualify for better paying jobs which require fingerprinting, and public safety is enhanced. Our goal is for the community to understand that you can go to court and receive the same quick resolution of these summonses as you can by going to the church.

The warrants and summons that were resolved were for cases in which individuals were charged with any of the following crimes: Unlawful Possession of Marijuana, Consumption of Alcohol in Public, Littering, Riding a Bicycle on the Sidewalk, Trespassing, Loitering, Disorderly Conduct, Unlawful Possession of Alcohol under the Age of 21, Unlawful Possession of Handcuffs, Making Unreasonable Noise, Animal Nuisance, Failure to have a Dog License, Unleashed Dog, Spitting, Unlawfully in a Park After Hours, and Failure to Comply with Posted Signs in a Park.

For more information you can visit www.projectsafesurrender.org.