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CURRENT SYSTEM UNABLE TO ASSURE PREVENTION OF VIOLATION TO CIVIL LIBERTIES

FAST FACTS â–ª Court to recall most outstanding traffic warrants in September 2006. â–ª Antiquated system contains erroneous information that could lead to false arrest and imprisonment. â–ª Court will limit issuing traffic warrants through early 2007, with the exception of serious offenders. â–ª Warranting returns when the new system comes online in early 2007.

The Las Vegas Township Justice Court will temporarily recall most outstanding traffic warrants issued by the court beginning this month while the court transitions to a new case management system. In addition, the court will limit issuing traffic warrants on minor traffic offenders through early 2007. However, the court will continue to issue warrants for serious traffic offenses such as DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs), and reckless or aggressive driving. Warrants for minor offenses will be reissued in 2007.“We will not tolerate any errors in our warrant system,” said Chief Judge James M. Bixler. “We have found that some of our outstanding warrants may not be valid and we intend to fix the problem.”Temporarily rescinding traffic warrants will allow the Traffic Division to replace an antiquated traffic case management system, which contains erroneous information and can no longer be relied upon to accurately track outstanding warrants.

The Clark County Commission approved funding for a replacement system in November 2005. The court is in the process of migrating current data to the new system, but has found the old data cannot be relied upon and could result in a violation of civil liberties, false arrest and possible imprisonment.

“The court currently has more than $33,700,000 in uncollected traffic fines,” said Bixler. “For many of those citations, individuals have not been given the opportunity to pay a fine before they were placed in warrant status. It is unfair to issue a traffic warrant when the affected individual has not been given a chance to come forward and take care of the fine. ”

An internal review of the current system has found that:
â–ª The warrant validation process is insufficient. The court has found instances where its information does not match state warrant repository records;
â–ª The historical inability to process traffic citations has led to many customers being turned away from the traffic counter unable to pay a fine. Until early 2006, wait times historically exceeded four hours. Individuals willing to pay a fine may have been placed in warrant status;
â–ª A chronic staffing shortage, coupled with an annual increase in the volume of citations exceeding 75 percent since 1990, prevented the court from keeping pace with growth in fines and citations. This has led to errors and limited collection efforts.

Rescinding warrants affects only those issued by the Las Vegas Township Justice Court for the collection of traffic fines. Serious offenders of traffic offenses will remain in warrant status, as will individuals currently facing warrants for non-traffic crimes. In an effort to assist individuals with fines, this fall the court will begin contacting and assisting individuals with any outstanding obligations. A focused collections effort will be created by the court to collect all outstanding traffic fines.

“We are not eliminating warrants for serious crimes,” said Bixler. “This court is committed to officer and public safety. However, we also must consider those civil liberties entitled to the residents of Clark County.”

The court is working with its partners – Clark County, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, Nevada Department of Public Safety, and other agencies – to ensure the transition to the new case management system eliminates errors and provides a responsive interface with their systems. Once operational early next year, the system will allow the Justice Court to better process citation demand, allow for the scanning of documents, provide electronic sharing with the State Public Safety database, enable fine collections by phone and internet, and offer validation of citations and warrants.