Jamaica - Traffic offenders owe $900m

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Y2K discussion group : One Thread

THE police, concerned at the apparently short shrift that motorists give traffic tickets, have formed a new unit to track down the estimated 300,000 offenders who have, over the past six years, failed to pay about $900 million in fines.

The unit is also attempting to execute 30,000 bench warrants for traffic offenders who have failed to turn up in court, according to the head of the police's traffic division, Senior Superintendent Elan Powell.
But, according to Powell, his officers face an uphill task, without much support from the law. So he is proposing changes to the traffic legislation to make it more difficult for motorists with unresolved traffic violations, or those who ignore the courts, to continue to drive.

"There is nothing in the system forcing violators to comply," Powell told the Observer. "People know that there are no consequences forcing them to pay their fines. We need legislation to ensure that if they don't pay, they will not be able to renew their driver's licences or register their motor vehicle."

The new traffic enforcement unit began operating in Kingston last month and Powell hopes to establish others across the island, but he concedes that the bench warrants from the courts and the writing of tickets by his men take place at a much faster clip than they are able enforce them.
In Kingston alone, for instance, the court issues about 400 warrants a week, more than three times as many as executed by the police. At the same time, cops in the capital write about 7,000 tickets weekly.

"The fact is that warrants are coming in even faster than we can execute them," Powell said in an interview.
While he estimated the amount of outstanding traffic tickets to be at around 300,000, he has no way of easily determining the actual figure. The Y2K bug damaged the computer database, making it difficult to retrieve information or add to the existing system.

This made widescale non-compliance easier.
But said Powell: "Each outstanding ticket which has not been paid has an average fine of $3,000. That is $900 million of revenue which the country is being denied.

"These fines must be collected and we have to find those for whom warrants are issued and put them before the courts. That is our responsibility."
According to the traffic chief, about two-thirds of the estimated 30,000 bench warrants were issued in the Corporate Area of Kingston and St Andrew. The remaining 10,000 are in the rural parishes.

In some cases, the offenders have as many as 20 warrants against them, having been ticketed several times.
Last year, the police executed 4,923 bench warrants in the corporate area resulting in the arrest of 2,609 violators. For the nine-month period this year, 4,483 warrants were executed with 2,349 people arrested.
"The unit is executing an average of 125 warrants per week, but it is an uphill task," Powell said.

He would encourage persons with outstanding tickets, and those who failed to attend court to visit the police traffic headquarters in Kingston and make arrangements to go to court.
"We have deliberately refrained from making weekend arrests for those (offenders) we have warrants for because of the difficulty it poses, so please come to us and make the necessary arrangements," Powell said.


Jamaica Observer

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2004


Moderation questions? read the FAQ