530.70 Order of recognizance or bail; bench warrant.1. A bench warrant issued by a superior court, by a district court, by the New York City criminal court or by a superior court judge sitting as a local criminal court may be executed anywhere in the state. A bench warrant issued by a city court, a town court or a village court may be executed in the county of issuance or any adjoining county; and it may be executed anywhere else in the state upon the written endorsement thereon of a local criminal court of the county in which the defendant is to be taken into custody. When so endorsed, the warrant is deemed the process of the endorsing court as well as that of the issuing court.
2. A bench warrant may be addressed to: (a) any police officer whose geographical area of employment embraces either the place where the offense charged was allegedly committed or the locality of the court by which the warrant is issued; or (b) any uniformed court officer for a court in the city of New York, the county of Nassau, the county of Suffolk or the county of Westchester or for any other court that is part of the unified court system of the state for execution in the building wherein such court officer is employed or in the immediate vicinity thereof. A bench warrant must be executed in the same manner as a warrant of arrest, as provided in section 120.80, and following the arrest, such executing police officer or court officer must without unnecessary delay bring the defendant before the court in which it is returnable; provided, however, if the court in which the bench warrant is returnable is a city, town or village court, and such court is not available, and the bench warrant is addressed to a police officer, such executing police officer must without unnecessary delay bring the defendant before an alternate local criminal court, as provided in subdivision five of section 120.90; or if the court in which the bench warrant is returnable is a superior court, and such court is not available, and the bench warrant is addressed to a police officer, such executing police officer may bring the defendant to the local correctional facility of the county in which such court sits, to be detained there until not later than the commencement of the next session of such court occurring on the next business day.
2-a. A court which issues a bench warrant may attach thereto a summary of the basis for the warrant. In any case where, pursuant to subdivision two of this section, a defendant arrested upon a bench warrant is brought before a local criminal court other than the court in which the warrant is returnable, such local criminal court shall consider such summary before issuing a securing order with respect to the defendant.
3. A bench warrant may be executed by (a) any officer to whom it is addressed, or (b) any other police officer delegated to execute it under circumstances prescribed in subdivisions four and five.
4. The issuing court may authorize the delegation of such warrant. Where the issuing court has so authorized, a police officer to whom a bench warrant is addressed may delegate another police officer to whom it is not addressed to execute such warrant as his or her agent when:
(a) He or she has reasonable cause to believe that the defendant is in a particular county other than the one in which the warrant is returnable; and
(b) The geographical area of employment of the delegated police officer embraces the locality where the arrest is to be made.
5. Under circumstances specified in subdivision four, the police officer to whom the bench warrant is addressed may inform the delegated officer, by telecommunication, mail or any other means, of the issuance of the warrant, of the offense charged in the underlying accusatory instrument and of all other pertinent details, and may request him or her to act as his or her agent in arresting the defendant pursuant to such bench warrant. Upon such request, the delegated police officer is to the same extent as the delegating officer, authorized to make such arrest pursuant to the bench warrant within the geographical area of such delegated officer's employment. Upon so arresting the defendant, he or she must without unnecessary delay deliver the defendant or cause him or her to be delivered to the custody of the police officer by whom he or she was so delegated, and the latter must then without unnecessary delay bring the defendant before the court in which such bench warrant is returnable.
6. A bench warrant may be executed by an officer of the state department of corrections and community supervision or a probation officer when the person named within the warrant is under the supervision of the department of corrections and community supervision or a department of probation and the probation officer is authorized by his or her probation director, as the case may be. The warrant must be executed upon the same conditions and in the same manner as is otherwise provided for execution by a police officer.
Last modified: February 3, 2019