tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post4090559032326432430..comments2024-03-25T20:06:39.794-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Nuts and bolts of citations for low-level misdemeanors explained by Travis Sheriff's OfficeGritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-61077949665638372402008-07-25T20:29:00.000-05:002008-07-25T20:29:00.000-05:00I must be missing something. What happens when a ...I must be missing something. What happens when a defendant who "is ordered to appear at a J.P.court" fails to appear? How do you prove their identity if they have never given fingerprints or been photographed? Criminals are called bad guys for a reason. That is because they don't obey the law. Many people who have major felony warrants are caught because they commit a minor offense. So, you arrest a bad guy and then ask him to pretty please obey an order to go turn himself in. Do you think a bad guy is going to run turn himself in when he knows he has a felony warrant outstanding. Like it or not, this is the problem and it is why the vast majority of law enforcement rejects this scheme.<BR/><BR/>Also, Travis County talks about the distance and time it takes to travel to book someone. If this is such a problem and Travis thinks they don't need to arrest these people, then why don't they just use the age old process of "at large" filing. The defendant in an "at large" case never gets arrested until formal charges are filed in court. By that time they have a lawyer lined up and, in a minor case, get a bond and usually never see the jail for any length of time. Of course, the identity issues are still present but in typical "at large" cases the police have sufficient identifiers for the defendant. If Travis is willing to write citation and release Defendants, then filing "at large" should be no different. Get good identifiers and file at large.<BR/><BR/>Finally, if the damn case is so minor and it is so much trouble, then the officer has discretion to just let the defendant go. Happens all of the time. For example, young kids get stopped with marijuana and the cop lets them go. But, once an officer decides to arrest for an offense then people need to follow the booking process. If you want integrity in the system then there are just certain things that have to be done. Otherwise, you are going to have a lot of innocent people arrested because a criminal has stolen their identity and used it to get out of a crime by presenting false identification to the officer. Then when the criminal fails to appear in court a warrant will be issued for the innocent victim of the identity theft.<BR/><BR/>Sometimes accuracy is more important than speed and efficiency.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-81428253249926671452008-02-21T21:01:00.000-06:002008-02-21T21:01:00.000-06:00Dallas PD and Dallas DA are gonna give it a try - ...Dallas PD and Dallas DA are gonna give it a try - <BR/>http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/022208dnmetcitations.2e9ceae.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-52686691569811281522008-02-20T21:21:00.000-06:002008-02-20T21:21:00.000-06:00If the Smith County DA wants power, he should find...If the Smith County DA wants power, he should find a bigger County to work in!<BR/><BR/>It may take a while but he and many others will eventually have to see the advantages of this approach to law enforcement.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-47446853899282926162008-02-20T17:08:00.000-06:002008-02-20T17:08:00.000-06:00Unfortunately, in Smith County our DA doesn't want...Unfortunately, in Smith County our DA doesn't want to reduce jail overcrowding. The more people has in the system, the more power he has. He probably won't seriously consider something like this unless he is forced to.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com