Section 530.70. Order of recognizance or bail; bench warrant  


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  • 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 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 agent when:
        (a)  He  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 to
      act as his 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 must
      without  unnecessary  delay  deliver  the  defendant  or cause him to be
      delivered to the custody of  the  police  officer  by  whom  he  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
      division  of  parole or a probation officer when the person named within
      the warrant is under the supervision of the  division  of  parole  or  a
      department  of  probation and the probation officer is authorized by his
      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.