Pay or Stay in Jail

Dallas plans another warrant roundup

Commentary
by Bruce Felps

The good folks in law enforcement have a way with catchy taglines for their initiatives.

“Click it or ticket” runs pretty much all the time as it applies to seatbelts, and "Pay up or Get Locked Up!" — eh, close — rears its sweep-y head next weekend.

Dallas operates its semi-regular warrant roundup beginning July 30, so, fair warning.

Dallas police and the City Marshal's Office will cast the dragnet in tandem to seek out and handcuff people with outstanding arrest warrants and unpaid citations. “Scofflaws” being the legal term for those people.

As it stands now, scofflaws with warrants on their heads and those with unpaid tickets on their consciences, right, face the likelihood of a hold placed on car regisatration and driver’s license renewals. Get pulled over, and they also face arrest.

The roundup doesn’t rely on a random traffic stop to net an arrest. The officers will go out and actively seek the scofflaws because you can’t passively seek something.

To avoid said arrest, at least for outstanding citations, soon-to-be-reformed scofflaws can pay fines and such at the Courts and Detention Services office or the City Marshal's Office, which accepts only full payments not layaway plans. Payments also can be made online.

So, don’t fail and stay out of jail. Eh, close.


Bruce Felps owns and operates East Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. He never had a warrant out for him. Cops just took him straight to jail.

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