Originally Posted by uneverno
http:///forum/post/3241999
I've been "arrested" for less. Bear with me, this is a long story.
The last time I visited my former state of residence (WI) I was hauled out of my mother's house for an alleged traffic warrant. (We'll get back to that part.) I was asked to step outside, but I refused, so I was grabbed and pulled outside. I was cuffed and shoved into the back of the police car. I was not Mirandized, nor was I formally placed under arrest. The cop, on the way to the station, explained to me that if I was found guilty of the violation, then my CA driver's license would be considered invalid in WI. I was hauled into the station, fingerprinted, photographed and was given a bill for $137.00. I paid in cash. The cops then drove me home while telling me there was no problem with my CA license, so I was free to drive a car in WI.
Here's the sitch. The community which "arrested" me did not file the violation with the State (that's a crime, btw. because the community, in not having reported my violation was attempting to avoid revenue sharing with the State.) Under the Clinton administration a law was passed which said that if I had an outstanding violation in State A, I could not get a driver's license in State B. I had a valid CA driver's licence. If any WI violations had existed, I could not have gotten one under Federal law.
Now, it is possible that the Fed screwed up and cleared me to get a license anyway. The likelier probability however, is that the local cops did not report my violation to the State. They do so because then they don't have to share revenue with the State as is required by law.
In recounting the story, I am not attempting to excuse myself from guilt in the original crime.
The problem is this: I was improperly "arrested" for something I did. How the local police department handled the entire situation was entirely Unconstitutional. I was not Mirandized, charged with any crime, there was no warrant for my arrest shown to me, there was no warrant to search the property, I was forcibly removed from private premises, the violation was not reported to the State (as required by law), etc.
The San Antonio Police and Bexar County Sheriffs Dept. do these quarterly 'warrant sweeps' whereby they announce in the paper and on TV that if you have an outstanding warrant, you can come in and pay it, or be prepared to be picked up and arrested at either your home or your workplace the following week. They are clearing the court dockets of all the outstanding 'no shows' of misdemeanor traffic tickets. They don't have to show any warrants, and if they find you, they will take you down to either pay the fine, or spend the night in jail until you can go in front of a judge to plead your case. You get to pick. As reef stated, they have an open bench warrant for every inidividual on the list.
I want to know how they found out you were back home. Did some ex-lover who had it in for you that knew you had an outstanding warrant 'rat you out'?
When did a state driver's license policy become under federal control? I don't think there's any legal precedent that states a municipality has to report Class A Misdemeanors to the State (i.e Dept. Of Public Safety that issues the license). Most do it now because the State uses those violations for their respective "points systems" they place on an individual's license. Here in Texas, we didn't have the points stuff on our licenses until a couple years ago. Shoot, I remember 15 years or so ago, the counties in Texas never reported their tickets to the state. That was before the system got computerized. You could get a ticket from a local sheriff in a county that you didn't live in, and if you didn't go back through that county or get pulled over there in three years, the ticket disappeared off your record, because most counties didn't keep more than three years of paperwork. I also remember that most states didn't 'cooperate' with one another regarding warrants and outstanding tickets (again before computers). I remember getting some ticket in one of those Louisiana 'parishes' by some sheriff for speeding. He took my driver's license and gave me a temporary one. Told me when I came back to pay my fine (of course there would be a fair trial
), I'd get it back. As soon as I took off, I wadded up the ticket and threw it out the window. When I got home, I went to my local DPS, told them I lost my wallet, and they issued me a new license. I got some letter in the mail a couple months later from this Lousiana JP that said I had a warrant for my arrest, and if I didn't pay the fine, I'd be arrested. I figured that if they wanted to arrest me, they'd have to drive over 500 miles to do it. I tossed that letter and never heard anything again.
