N.Y. Criminal Procedure Law § 530.70: Order of recognizance or bail; bench warrant

§ 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.