HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 9457T& To the Mayor and Members of the City Coun
ley% SUBJECT: WARRANT AMNESTY PROGRAM
As part of an ongoing effort to reduce the volume of undisposed cases with warrants and
increase court collections, the Municipal Court Services Department is planning a one — time
warrant amnesty program. Based on the research conducted by staff this program has not been
previously utilized within the City of Fort Worth. The program period will be Monday, February 27.,
2012 to Friday, March 23, 2012 to compliment the dates of the Statewide Warrant Roundup.
The Department has initiated several measures over the past three years to increase the
disposition of outstanding cases including:
The implementation • external collections,
The expansion of payment options to online and telephone payments via Western Union,
Participation in the annual statewide warrant round-up; and
Full implementation of the state mandated in-house collections program
To compliment these measures the Department seeks to implement a limited warrant amnesty
program under the following conditions:
• Defendant must appear voluntarily,
• Ticket must be in warrant status;
• Defendant must plead guilty or no-contest; and
• Defendant must pay remaining balance in full
The Municipal Court Services Department has approximately 600,000 outstanding warrants
eligible for the program.
The warrant fee is a local fee that is attached to the case at the time a warrant is issued. There
are two types • warrants that are generally referred to in Municipal Court:
The local Judge has authority to reduce and/or waive certain local fees and fines as prescribed by
state law.
_SSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH. TEXAT
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
SUBJECT: WARRANT AMNESTY PROGRAM
f487S
® 9457
Staff recommends moving forward with this program and developing various media campaigns
(print, radio, television, etc.) to support the amnesty program and the Statewide Warrant
Roundup. We will coordinate with other local agencies to increase the exposure of our program,
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Deidra Emerson, Municipal Court Services
Director, at (817) 392 -6711.
Higgins
rn
City I
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS