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It’s estimated there are a half million people in and out of Houston with outstanding traffic warrants and this is an annual effort by HPD and Municipal Courts to clear the books.
“The message is very clear. Every member in the community that currently has outstanding warrants, please come forward, take care of your business, because these men and women in blue will be out in force and will be knocking on your door.”
Houston Police Assistant Chief John Trevino says that knock on the door could come at home or at work, to make an arrest in front of coworkers or family members. As part of the sweep, Chief Trevino says a dedicated squad of officers will be using a special camera that zeroes in on your license plate, unlike the conventional method where:
“The officer would have to actually make the stop, and then actually manually enter the license plate into the computer. These cameras read it and does it automatically, and they are doing multiple licenses, in a minute they could run possibly twenty, thirty license plates. It’s done very quickly.”
Municipal Court Judge Berta Mejia says there are many options for anyone with an outstanding traffic ticket.
“They still may come in today. They can come in, and they’re not gonna get arrested if they come to our courts, they can come to any of our court locations. They can call 3-1-1 and pay be phone, they can pay online. So they still have those options.”
Information on municipal court locations and payment options can be found at www.houstontx.gov/courts or contact the City’s Helpline at 3-1-1- or 713 837-0311 if outside the City of Houston.
Pat Hernandez, KUHF Houston Public Radio News.