Mercer County Sheriff Conducts Child Support Sweep, Arrests 107

mercer sheriffThe Mercer County Sheriff’s Department conducted a three-day child support sweep in Mercer County last week and arrested 107 people, officials announced today.

The sweep was part of a 21-county operation conducted  across New Jersey. The Mercer County sweep included detectives and uniformed Sheriff Officer’s, in addition to members of the Mercer County Probation Division, Trenton Police, the New Jersey State Police, and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

The multi-agency law enforcement teams investigated and pursued the most egregious child support cases in Mercer County, targeting 119 individuals – 113 men and six women, officials said.

In most every instance, those caught in the sweep had evaded all efforts to pay their court-ordered obligations of child support, according to the county sheriff.

“Parents have a responsibility to support their children. If they do not, enforcement actions become necessary,” Sheriff Jack Kemler said. “Many of those caught in the sweep are chronic violators.”

Statewide, 1,106 court-ordered warrants were served. Of the twenty-one county departments, Mercer County was a leader in the state with 107 arrests.

Kemler said parents in Mercer County who are excessively behind on their child support should “be responsible and clear up any long-overdue payment”.

For more information on how to resolve a child support
warrant, delinquent parents should contact Detective Stephen Mellick at the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office at (609) 989-6798.

2 Comments

  1. This is a really ineffectual way to encourage parents to be responsible to their children. I worked for the federal agency that handles child support, and saw that there’s a lot hidden by the”deadbeat dad” label–the fact that many parents provide support “off the books,” that courts make child support orders that are totally out of whack with men’s actual income, and that support orders continue to accumulate if men are incarcerated (and when they can’t pay, they get locked up again, and the cycle continues). Whatever money went into funding this sting would be much better spent in job training and job creation programs for low income men. There are far more struggling men and struggling relationships than there are true deadbeats.

    1. Agreed 100%. That same federal agency (Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Support Enforcement) says that 73% of those not paying have incomes of less than $192 per week. Those states that aren’t stuck in the stone age are putting money into job training, counselling, and other similar programs and are watching child support payment rates climb….

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