Texas: Warrant Servers Busy Running Speed Traps
North Texas constables are focusing on issuing traffic tickets even though their primary duty is to serve arrest warrants.
County constables in North Texas are ignoring their primary warrant serving responsibilities in order to issue speeding tickets. In Dallas County, constables have issued $49 million worth of citations even though 92,000 arrest warrants await service. Dallas County Constable Mike Dupree’s precinct issues an average of 1700 traffic citations per month. His jurisdiction has 24,000 unserved warrants.Texas law establishes that constables have all the powers of a peace officer, but their sole duty is to issue warrants. “A constable shall execute and return as provided by law each process, warrant, and precept that is directed to the constable….” (Texas Code, Section 86.021)
In the late 1990s, DeSoto passed a resolution asking the Dallas County constables to stop running speed traps in the city. Constables have flouted the city council’s wishes and continue to ticket residents. Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price told investigators with KTVT-TV that he preferred having constables issue tickets because there isn’t enough space in jail for those with a warrant out for their arrest.
“I am going to have to manage the beds I have, and if I have to manage them, then I will give the beds to the more serious offenders,” Price said.
Constable Dupree faces far more serious charges than running speed traps. As reported in the Dallas Morning News, three male deputies filed sexual harassment charges against him. A petition was filed in March seeking to remove Dupree from office.
Source: (KTVT-TV (TX), 5/10/2007)
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April 15th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
These guys are getting even more agressive. In north west Dallas, I cannot go a day without seeing at least 3 or 4 constables in a very small area that I drive through regularly. I got ticketed and had to have the citation back in the mail to them within two weeks. I was so irritated at being pulled over by someone who has *no* business writing speeding tickets that I apparently ended up waiting too long to get it back to them. My reward? Original fine goes from $106 to $296 dollars and I quote: “However, you may request Deferred Disposition to keep this violation off your driving record. You must request Deferred in writing and submit a payment of $296.00 by the due date listed below.”
Yeah, I got it without about 7 days to turn it around…And did you catch the blackmail in that statement? I do not have a problem with someone giving a speeding ticket if they are truly doing something dangerous, but this guy was not even patroling a school zone which would have been in affect at the time. Their reason for giving the ticket has absolutely nothing to do with speeding and everything to do with*stealing* money from citizens. This *is* highway robbery.