By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



The Gardendale Police Department has a gift for residents with arrest warrants.

On July 11, the city will host its first “Amnesty Day” allowing those with unpaid traffic tickets or fines the chance to pay up without being arrested for failing to appear in court.

Police chief Mike Walker said those who choose to come in will be doing themselves a favor by clearing their record, but will also do the department a favor by reducing the lengthy backlog of failure to appear [FTA] warrants, which date back to 1955. He said there would be no way for officers to serve that many warrants.

Gardendale court magistrate Barbara Cobb said the number of cases adds up to about 8,000.

“People die or move to other states,” Walker said. “Even if we can locate them, we’re not going to drive to another state to extradite them.”

However, Walker said that an FTA warrant “would not go away.” He said anyone pulled over for something as simple as having a tail light out to being involved in a traffic accident can be arrested if driver license information is processed through the national database and the warrant has not been resolved.

“We think it’s a good thing to clear their record and get on with their lives,” he said.

This will be the first such “Amnesty Day” for the city. Cobb said she had no idea how many people would voluntarily turn themselves in, but the city would be prepared to deal with a potential crowd.

“It’s going to be a very busy day if we get a good response,” Cobb said. “If we don’t, we may have to try this again. We don’t mind the work.”

Cobb and her staff will have a sign-up sheet available and will then begin pulling case files for those who appear in court.

She said the person will then be required to pay the cost of the ticket or fine. Traffic tickets in Gardendale generally run between $130 to $150.

Parties who don’t have the money to pay will be referred to probation services and payment arrangements can be made until the fine is paid in full, Cobb said.

Those interested in taking part in “Amnesty Day” should be at Gardendale City Hall at 8 a.m. to sign up and should bring a driver license or some other form of identification.

For more information, call city hall at 631-8789 or the police department at 631-8787.