AMARILLO, TEXAS -- The City of Amarillo has more than 37,000 Class C Misdemeanor warrants outstanding. That's a number the Amarillo Municipal Courts is hoping its new internet services will help bring down.
Municipal Courts Administrator Victoria Medley told Pronews 7 the Courts launched new internet services in June that will allow people to take care of those pesky citations without the hassle of going downtown and waiting in line.
"We're really trying to make it more convenient for the public to be able to comply with the judges orders," she said. "So, now you'll be able to go online and not only pay your citation or pay your warrant, but you'll also be able to pay for Defensive Driving and deferred disposition."
Through this online service, you will be allowed to pay for a traffic fine or citation, pay capias warrants and standard warrants that have not been set for trial, or pay for any alternative sentencing option such as a driving safety course or deferred disposition. There are certain fines you cannot use the online service for, though. Those include paying for things like a fine for a ticket issued to a juvenile, a fine for a person in jail or a cash bond.
The new service, Medley hoped, would make it easier for people to take care of their citations before they turn into active warrants.
"A lot of times people come in or they get the citation, they don't come down to Municipal Court and then it just snowballs on them and it's gone to warrant and the police department gets involved, so really we're trying to make it more accessible," added Medley.
A neglected citation can go to warrant in a matter of about a month if you haven't appeared in court or made any attempt to contact the court. When that happens, handling those outstanding warrants can become a drain on police resources.
"When an officer makes a traffic stop and he finds there's an arrest warrant outstanding," explained Sgt. Brent Barbee with APD, "he's got to physically make the arrest, he has to search the car, he has to escort the person to jail or to the court, he may have to have for an impound wrecker for the car."
The online citation service, Sgt. Barbee also hoped, will mean fewer warrants to be served and therefore fewer APD officers tied up serving them.
"If this kind of administrative capability allows the number of traffic warrants issued to be reduced then that can be reflected in more officers to provide calls for service," he added.
Overall, it's a new, simple and convenient payment method available to you. To use it, just log onto www.amarillo.gov and click on the "Court" button on the right-hand side of the page. Then, also on the right-hand side, find and click on the link that says "Traffic Citation Online Payment Service", follow the instructions on the next page and you're done!
"We're really trying to make it more convenient for the public to be able to comply with the judge's order," said Medley.
