Offenders nabbed in Operation Descansos

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Law enforcement officers combed the streets in Santa Fe County this weekend looking for those who already face or are convicted of DWI and who have already failed again.

Officers were armed with more than 50 files, names and pictures of people already accused or convicted of drinking, and then failing again.

“They range from everything, failure to pay fines to conditions of release, failure to appear in court,” Sgt. Victor Rodriguez said.

Saturday morning four agencies hit the streets covering every section of Santa Fe looking for DWI offenders who cannot follow the rules.

Some were dead ends but others led police to family members, neighbors who knew them and to the offenders themselves.

Officers served warrants to five people.

Chester Dunlap and Abraham Beardsley were among them.

Dunlap was convicted of driving drunk but failed to keep paying his fines. Beardsley was arrested for aggravated DWI in May, but after he was released on bail he failed to show up in court.

“If they fail to comply with the conditions of the court, then there's a good possibility they will fail to comply with other aspects of the law including possibly picking up,” Sgt. Rodriguez said.

Some they were looking for already have. The monthly operation was scheduled this weekend for a reason.

“Its Labor Day weekend its going to be busy,” Sgt. Rodriguez said. “People need to know that if you pick a DWI that you are going to be held accountable from the day you get arrested to the day you get down with court if not you'll be seeing us there.”

The program, called Operation Descansos, started two years ago. Since then, more than 1,200 warrants have been served through either arrests or surrenders.