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Program Allows Brooklyn Residents With Minor Offenses To Have Records Cleared

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Brooklyn residents with petty offences will have the chance to have their records cleared.

Residents will be able to resolve their outstanding warrants and summons at a local church Friday and Saturday.

It's all part of Project Safe Surrender, an initiative by Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, Brooklyn clergy and others to help those who have trouble getting a job or accessing social services because of their outstanding warrants.

Program Allows Brooklyn Residents With Minor Offenses To Have Records Cleared

Hynes said 250,000 people in Brooklyn currently have outstanding warrants for charges ranging from consumption of alcohol in public to littering to riding a bicycle on the sidewalk.

"And if someone wants a decent job these days with good money, they all require fingerprinting and again, once the fingerprints are checked on, the arrest warrant pops up and you don't get the job," Hynes said.

A court will be set up at The Church of the Open Door on Gold Street in Brooklyn on Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A judge, court officers, clerks, clergy, pastors and defense attorneys from the Legal Aid Society and Brooklyn Defender Services will all be on hand.

For more information, click here.

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