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Monday, Jan. 19, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Beyond the Sun
One way to stem a budget crisis is to cut costs, as Las Vegas officials are anxiously doing.
Another way is to find new ways to raise money, which is the main purpose of an expanded warrants program about to go into effect at Las Vegas Municipal Court. The result of the change will be more knocks on doors of speeders and other traffic violators who refuse to pay their court-ordered fines.
Under the program, the court’s field marshals will work more closely with another court division, the Judicial Enforcement Unit, which collects debts owed the city for traffic infractions and other misdemeanors, including drunken driving and domestic assault.
With the one marshal to be hired to fill a vacancy, and four new part-time clerks, the court hopes the marshals will be able to serve an additional 1,300 warrants annually, and net at least $700,000 for city coffers, after personnel costs are subtracted.
After the new marshal is hired, one of the nine field marshals will be assigned to work full-time with the enforcement unit.
In fiscal 2008, the field marshals served 11,169 warrants. During that period, the court’s enforcement unit collected $5.6 million, Municipal Court Administrator James Carmany said.
The goal of the changes primarily is to enforce traffic fine collections, Carmany said. These are the misdemeanor warrants issued when drivers cited for moving violations such as speeding or aggressive driving either don’t show up in court, or show up and promise to pay but don’t.
“This will be more of a precise effort” to collect unpaid traffic fines, Carmany said. “It used to be a shotgun approach. Now, it’s more of a rifle approach, and being able to better target the individuals who owe the court money.”
When collecting fines in traffic cases, the efforts of the two units will give the marshals more up-to-date address information, so they waste less time trying to track down individuals.
According to Carmany and Keith Gronquist, the court’s division manager who oversees the marshals unit, even though they’re serving misdemeanor warrants, the field marshals — usually working alone — never quite know what to expect.
As many as 50 percent of those served, for example, have previously been charged with violent crimes, Gronquist said. And a significant percentage of those with traffic warrants have outstanding warrants of other types.
With the aid of new clerks, marshals will have better access to this information, enabling them to be better prepared when they knock on doors.
According to Gronquist, the marshals generally face two types of traffic violators. The first are mostly law-abiding people who, when faced with a marshal at their door demanding money — under threat of arrest — comply immediately, if they can.
The other type have other warrants or charges on their records, including folks who move from address to address and prove difficult to find.
Gronquist and Carmany stressed that field marshals have discretion as to whether an arrest is warranted. More often than not it is avoided, they said, through on-the-spot collections made by phone or through a payment device the marshal brings with him — or at least with a sincere-sounding promise of future payment.
Regardless, Gronquist said, the principle is the same. A law was broken and a debt to the city is owed.
“This is money that’s owed to us, and in these tight financial times, that’s important,” Gronquist said. “But compliance is important to us, too.”
Wow. How gestapo-like.
I'm a huge supporter of the police & citations given out in the name of public safety. What I'm against is ticket writing as a means of revenue generation. There IS a difference.
Talk about the tax-man commeth.
And now they come to your home to collect. Do they break your kneecaps or arrest you if you can't pay?
While I agree somewhat gmag, this is for existing tickets. That is worrisome. I had a roommate who had several tickets against here that ended up becoming a bench warrant for her arrest. She, and her ilk, need to be tracked down.
"Existing tickets" -- keep in mind municipal courts are merely corporate courts, and they serve the corporation that created them, the city or county.
gmag39 is right, this is revenue generation.
As government budgets are stressed expect much more of this kind of "revenue generation." Especially when it's for crap like you didn't mow your lawn, or too many vehicles on your property, violations have nothing to do with public safety.
give your wife a smack and the city gets money. Very strange.
Oh boy - if this works they'll start doing it in cities all across the country.
check for politician tickets first.
An Arizona Supreme Court Justice once said that an unpaid fine is an un-taught lesson in accountability. It is the responsibility of every citizen to obey the law. Monetary sanctions were established to hold people accountable for their actions. If you think about this article, the issue is not about those responsible people who pay their fines, but about those people who have not been responsible and have outstanding warrants for their arrest. Very often these people are driving with no insurance, no driver's license, suspended driver's license, suspended or expired registration and a host of other traffic violations or crimes. These are people who often have a history of multiple traffic violations and crimes of violence. What it seems this article is saying is these people will be held accountable for their actions and those responsible for creating the problem will pay the expense. This translates into a safer community for all of us.
Pick-em up and lock-em up. May not change their deal, but advertise and the rest of the bums will pay up.
LVLights -- look at the context of that AZ justice's quote. I'd bet it was decades ago, long before lawmakers kicked it into high gear and got into the business of criminalizing or attaching fines to just about everything a citizen had the right to do.
Example: Washington state in recent years has turned gambling online and padding one's resume into felonies. Right along with the real crimes.
Congress has created literally thousands of new crimes, most of which have nothing to do with defending our borders or interstate commerce. Examples: you can get 6 weeks in jail for impersonating a 4-H Club member, and 6 months for interstate transport of unlicensed dentures.
NEVER assume the person at your door, whether your home's or your car's, is right just because there's a badge! Far too often they're wrong. It's up to us as the People to be vigilant on this kind of thing.
Yep, you owe, you pay. I get that. However, it is NOT in the citizenries best interest to have LAW enforcement going around collecting debts of ANY kind, under the threat of imminent arrest & imprisonment. It even SOUNDS archaic.
Like the ancient tax collectors. History repeats itself again and again.
If not law enforcement going around and collecting from these scofflaws, who?
I do believe these folks have been warned. The Marshalls just don't follow the toothfairy around and confiscate the two-bits.
If you think the legislature has gotten out of control and wants to emulate Washington state, I don't think you realize the vast majority of the citations are for speeding, traffic infractions and lack of insurance/registration.
No, they have to pony up.
What about the financally struggling parents of children who are out of work, just barely working, or can hardly pay their rent or buy food, clothes, transportion for themselves or their children? This is a ressession, can't these money grubbing gestapo vultures, and courts figure this out? Do they go home after their day of knocking on doors or issuing their sickening paperwork to fleece the public, to their own families - all snug and warm, feeling good about the havoc they brought on other families' lives, or what? No conscience huh? Someone needs to serve the gestapo with unfair court notices and grab their family's food money/morgage money and see how they cope!
I am not saying that willful speeding, going through a red light, or reckless driving is right, because it is not, and those who do things that endanger other's lives should receive a ticket or a jail sentence, don't get me wrong. Some of those who posted comments have classified ALL of those who owe traffic tickets as being "bums" or those who deserved the ticket. This is not so. There are those who were unfairly served with a ticket. Maybe they are normally careful drivers who made a mistake after years of thoughtful driving habits. Maybe this mistake was just making a turn at a corner at the wrong time of day, or not noticing a stripe/ line on the pavement at the time, how petty, yet their circumstances and the cost of a ticket has made it impossible to pay. Maybe community service or even a dismissal of the ticket because of what the ticket was for would make more sense. I bet these people who class ALL traffic tickets together as the same never thought of what is fair and what is not. I know for sure that they will find out how wrong people are treated when the time comes for them to be victimized by this sort of thing, so wake up.
Lenny_V asked what the hell is a Marshal. They have no jurisdiction. I guess you haven't lived in Nevada long. It's still the wild west here and yes Marshals do have jurisdiction. In fact, I found out that the Marshals from the Las Vegas Municipal Court, those in the article, are post certified, Catagory I Peace Officers. To bring that down to your understanding, that means they have the same authority and are the same level of training and catagory as Metro officers and can go anywhere in Nevada to find you. Hope your tickets are paid.