Police in GA Arresting and Jailing People for Paid Traffic Tickets

[RiffRandell]

due to "flaw" at the recorder's court.

I saw this story on the local news yesterday. I have always kept copies of paid traffic tickets with the receipt stapled to it in my glove compartment as I feared this might happen. It seems like one woman had a copy and the police officer refused to look at it.

This is another reason why law enforcement/training needs a major overhaul. Most police will not listen (think Eric Garner) and I'm sick of people saying how hard their jobs are and the crap they have they have to deal with on a daily basis must be so frustrating.

You know what's frustrating? Being hauled off to jail for a suspended license over a failure to yield ticket that you paid. It doesn't state it in the article, but that woman said on the news she was on her way to pick up her children at camp or day care (I can't remember), the police wouldn't let her call them so they had no idea where she was (I don't know if she got a phone call in jail; she's supposed to), she said she spent the night in jail, yet had proof the ticket was paid.

The police will blame the recorder's court, where those workers have great state benefits and pensions, and probably don't give a rat's ass that innocent people were jailed over their mistakes. The attorney suspects there are more people out there were victims as well and also believes others are sitting ducks which is why he wants the records. On the news a spokesperson said they were 'backlogged', and are stalling at the request of turning over their records, whereas I tend to think they are attempting to correct their records to prevent legal recourse.

It's disgusting to think they should consider themselves fortunate they weren't assaulted or killed, and I'm not optimistic things will change anytime soon.

Remember when we used to get angry at the police tasing people at random? Those were the "good old days."

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. —
People who say they were wrongly arrested because of mistakes made by a court, plan to ask a judge to help them get their records to figure out how it happened. Attorney Bill Atkins said he filed open records requests asking Judge Nelly Withers to explain how people got their licenses suspended and were arrested, even after they paid their tickets.

Hill said getting locked up for not paying for a citation she paid for was not only humiliating, it was embarrassing.
She said she tried to explain to the officer she paid for the failure to yield ticket at DeKalb County Recorder's Court.

“’I can show you that I paid this ticket. It has a citation number it has case closed.’ He was like, ‘No I don't want to see it. You're going to jail tonight,’” Hill said. And she went to jail.

Hill’s attorney later found out the ticket had been paid and she shouldn't have been arrested. Bill Atkins found three others who went through the same experience. The system said they hadn't paid their tickets when they had. Atkins said there's a flaw in the system at recorders court. “I guess the question is how many people have to go to jail before you fix the problem,” Atkins said. Atkins wants to know how many people have been wrongly arrested after paying their tickets. But he said the chief judge at recorders court has not responded to nine open records act requests to get that information. “The court, this is a court we're dealing with here simply refuses to comply with their obligations under Georgia law,” Atkins said.

Link: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/woman-says-she-was-unfairly-jailed-over-paid-ticke/ng6wR/

[pipoman]

1. In my state we have county "district courts"

They are state judges and employees in every county. If there is a problem in the district court, concerns can be sent to the district administrative judge and one usually gets results or answers as to why a request hasn't been processed.

[pscot]

2. K&R

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. happened to me...

but the mistake was made in NC and my receipt was at home. i got to spend a night in jail over it. didn't have to pay a huge fine or anything... just a royal pain in the arse.

sP

[RiffRandell]

4. That's terrible!

Did you take any legal action?

[RebelOne]

8. I was wondering if those women who were jailed

and had proof that they paid their tickets could take legal action for false imprisonment.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

11. well, I raised a little cain over it...

mainly because it scared my wife to death when I didn't get home and she couldn't find me. i did speak with Thurbert Baker (the then attorney general of GA) and he apologized and wrote my wife a letter but no legal action was taken as i didn't have the money to really do anything and when it all came down to it nothing all that bad happened... the night in jail was educational ...

sP

[questionseverything]

5. something similar happened a few years ago in my small town

it happened to enough people an investigation was ordered...low and behold someone from the clerk's office was stealing the cash used to pay tickets,so the police/authorities had no record they were paid

that person was prosecuted and convicted

but i seem to live in a better place than most as my town police arrested and convicted one of their own for raping woman he came into contact with

in neither case was justice swift enough but it did happen

[RiffRandell]

6. Yeah, we had the second thing you mentioned going on here

years ago, which is why I refused to get out of my car late at night on my way home and pulled over for speeding.

[ReRe]

7. Let's face it...

... we're all guilty of something. And if we're not, they make something up. The deck is stacked against us, people. They would even find something against GOD if He came down here and wondered around the block to see if He could locate any acts of kindness.

[RiffRandell]

9. You are exactly right.

I have zero faith in them, and zero trust.

[ReRe]

14. Did you see Melissa Harris-Perry today?

If you didn't, you need to watch her 2-hr show online if possible. Anyway, they were talking about the trust factor between police and black youth, actually all black people. I didn't think of it then, but I don't think many people trust the police anymore, regardless of skin color.

[RiffRandell]

25. No, I didn't.

Thanks for letting me know; I will try to catch it.

[woo me with science]

19. +1 Profitmaking in this country used to be tied to industry.

Now they profit off us - our existence and our basic needs. Off our need for food, health care, shelter; our need for education; off surveilling us and imprisoning us.

We are the livestock on a very sick farm for profit, and we are disposable when we aren't profitable anymore.

[greiner3]

10. Of course the 4 women happen to be black.

Just sayin'.

[kelliekat44]

12. This stuff is really getting out of hand. They do it because they can. Think of that poor child

left at camp waiting for his mom to pick him up. Are these white law enforcement devoid of all humanity? Are none of them parents? WTF?

[blkmusclmachine]

15. +1. The cops are becoming more emboldened, because, so far, ZERO reprecussions for bad actions.

[ColesCountyDem]

13. This is why jailing people for petty or civil offenses makes no sense.

Not to defend the police, per se, but the officers were simply executing warrants. Warrants are issued by judges (obviously), and LEO's don't have discretion when it comes to executing them.

[Enthusiast]

16. "the police officer refused to look at it." Arrogance is standard operating procedure.

Kicked and recommended! Thank you, RiffRandell.

[LarryNM]

17. As More Tax Cuts and Power is given to the 1%

this is the type of thing that will increase. A battle between cutting government services and funding by onerous fines and fees.

[JJChambers]

18. This is sick

Blaming policemen for serving an arrest warrant in which they're commanded by the judge to serve. Blame the judge and the court, not the officers.

[RiffRandell]

22. Did you miss the part where one woman gave the officer proof and he said he

didn't want to see it and she was going to jail?

You bet I blame the officers. Not ONE would listen to them, investigate it which may have taken possibly an hour out of their fucking day to see that something was wrong. A few phone calls to save a person who is innocent a MAJOR, disgraceful nightmare?

What if one of them had started a new job and lost it because they ended up in jail on their way to work that day?

What about the woman who couldn't pick up her kids?

Apparently it's too much to ask for police to go out of their way in helping innocent people.

[Live and Learn]

23. +1 nt

[JJChambers]

24. I doubt they have access to the information indicating which ticket the warrant was for

and I would bet they hear "but I paid that ticket" a hundred times a year, along with countless other excuses. If there has a warrant signed by a judge, the officer has little choice but to make an arrest.

[Ecumenist]

28. Yes, I'm sure they do hear that countless times in a year BUT when someone offers to show the

PROOF that the ticket was PAID and the police officer REFUSES to look at it. there's something else going on.. Sorry to burst your bubble.

[JJChambers]

29. You're assuming that would be relevant information

If the warrant information only indicates that an offense was committed -- such as fail to pay fine -- but not a corresponding citation number, the paid ticket receipt would be meaningless.

[Ecumenist]

30. BULLSHIT, it wouldn't take too much PAH-RECIOUS time away from this boy in blue to check things

I DON'T BUY IT and NEITHER DOES MY BROTHER who is a LEO OR his partner. BULLSHIT. Wonder what you would be saying if you were the one on the business end of that all expenses paid trip to the CROSSBAR Motel...

[JJChambers]

31. Not something I have to worry about. I don't break the traffic laws.

In any case, I am sure they hear "but I paid that ticket" day in and day out. If there is a warrant issued in error, or a license suspended in error, it will ultimately be up to the court to fix - not the officer.

[2naSalit]

32. ...

“’I can show you that I paid this ticket. It has a citation number it has case closed.’ He was like, ‘No I don't want to see it. You're going to jail tonight,’” Hill said. And she went to jail.

[Lee-Lee]

34. Even if the officer could look at it, they still have to arrest based on the warrant

When it comes to serving a warrant for arrest that is a court order.

In almost every state an officer is allowed zero discretion when it come to such- if he has you and the system says there is a warrant that says arrest, he or she has to.

Showing any kind of evidence or proof to them is pointless- they are not the judge or court who issued the warrant, not a higher authority, so they can't do anything about it no matter what you show them. They don't have the legal authority to judge of whatever someone is showing them is legitimate or applicable to the warrant, nor access to case files to verify it even if they had the authority.

The beef here is 100% with the bureaucrats in whatever "Recorders Court" is in GA being sloppy and not doing their work, generating bad warrants for arrest. Not with the cops. 100%.

But down people just want to irrationally hate on any cop regardless of where the real blame lies.

[Jack Rabbit]

20. I smell a computer "glitch"

In reality, there is no such thing as a computer glitch. It could be that there's a programming error, or simply that the data wasn't turned in on time, or wasn't input. While there's an awful lot about rogue cops in the news (hello, Ferguson!), when different cops make the same mistake it, it probably isn't a case of a rogue cop.

Judge Withers' attitude is inexcusable, or at least only excusable up to a point; when she keeps seeing the same thing over and over, she owes it to her profession to start asking what might be wrong.

[Stellar]

21. Jebus!!!!

[Louisiana1976]

26. Excellent post. K&R

[WillyT]

27. K & R !!!

[Warren DeMontague]

33. Wow.

That's nuts.