FAYETTEVILLE -- The Police Department has changed its policy and now tells officers to issue citations rather than arrest people who have warrants for failure to pay fines and costs, according to a Sept. 21 internal memo.
The idea is to avoid creating a "debtor's prison for those who could not pay their fines," said Paul Twardowski, warrant division officer at the Police Department.
Active Warrant Contacts
People with questions about active warrants can go to the Fayetteville Police Department or call 575-8344. People also can contact the Police Department’s Warrant Division from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 575-8343.
Source: Fayetteville Police Department
Roughly 30 percent of the department's 2,273 active warrants, or about 730, are for failure to pay fines and costs, Twardowski said. The warrant division serves about 800 warrants a month, according to the department website.
Police now will issue a citation with a court date so a judge can hear whether the person is unable to pay the fines and costs or is purposefully in contempt of court, officials said. Judges will decide how to handle each situation, police said.
"The Department of Justice does not want people jailed for nonpayment of fines and fees without first conducting an indigence determination and establishing the failure to pay was willful," Chief Greg Tabor wrote in his memo.
The U.S. Department of Justice released a letter March 14 saying courts "must not incarcerate people for nonpayment of fines or fees" without determining poverty or willful nonpayment.
Fayetteville police still must take people with warrants from other cities to the jail, where they'll be released, police said. The Washington County Sheriff's Office changed its policy on the issue in March, said spokeswoman Kelly Cantrell. The detention center cites and releases people when the sole offense is failure to pay fines and costs, she said.
Cantrell said the detention center policy changed at the request of district judges. Fayetteville Prosecutor and West Fork District Judge Casey Jones said district judges wanted to avoid putting poor people in jail.
"If you're unable to pay, and we put you in jail, then it's basically a debtors' prison and that's not right," Jones said.
The issue has been raised in other jurisdictions.
A class-action lawsuit was filed in federal court by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas in August against Sherwood and Pulaski County. The suit, in part, alleges the city and county jailed people for not paying fines, fees and costs associated with misdemeanor hot check convictions without considering whether the people could pay.
An message left earlier this week and a message left at the ACLU office Friday afternoon weren't returned by deadline.
Not taking people to jail for failure to pay fines and costs will save Fayetteville money because booking fees cost Fayetteville $60 per person. However, the policy isn't meant to save the city money, Twardowski said.
As a general rule, police already didn't take people to jail solely for failure-to-pay warrants, unless the fine was large or attached to a very old warrant, Twardowski said. The difference now is the department has a policy, he said.
Police should "make a sound decision" about whether to issue a citation or arrest someone when other offenses, such as failure to appear, are involved, Police Chief Greg Tabor said in his memo.
Twardowski said people with warrants from Fayetteville, including those for failure to appear, can call the Police Department to find out how to dispose of them. A lot of times that means not going to jail, he said.
NW News on 10/01/2016