Can you be arrested for an outstanding warrent, even if the offence is sooo small?

Question

I didnt pay my fine for disturbing the peice last new year! and i went out the counrty for my job! im about to go back and i know there is a warrent out for my arrest! will i be knicked at the airport? :( lol

Answer 1

No you'll probably not be nicked at the airport.

You should call at a police station at 9am on Mon-Fri, and ask if there is a warrant for you. They will do a quick check to find out. It could be a warrant with bail. Worst case scenario is that its a warrant without bail. You would be arrested and put before court that morning and be out by lunchtime.

Fail to check up and you risk being arrested on a Saturday lunch time. This would mean you get to spend the weekend in a dingy police cell and go to court on Monday. I know which i prefer.

Answer 2

It's pretty simple - a warrant means that any Police Officers who encounter you are obligated to arrest you and ensure whatever process the warrant has been issued for is carried out. There can be various types of warrants. Some simply require a person to be arrested and taken in front of the court at the earliest opportunity. If yours is a warrant like this, the best way to deal with it is to simply arrive at the court when it opens in the morning, inform them of your warrant, and you will be arrested on the spot, spend a couple of hours in the cells before being brought into the court and having the matter dealt with. This may not sound very nice, but would you prefer to be driving down the road Friday night, get pulled over for a minor matter and then find yourself locked up all weekend until the court opens on Monday?

Other warrants may be issued to ensure an outstanding fine is paid; in my area these are termed Warrants of Commitment and we describe these as "the money or the body" The way these warrants work is that when the Police catch up with you, you have the option of either paying the outstanding fine, or if you are unable to pay you can serve a period in custody (the length of custody time is related to a dollar value per day equivalent for the total outstanding fine)

In answer to the final part of your question, you're probably not likely to be nicked at the airport, unless the police have been specifically put on alert that you are arriving then and have an outstanding warrant. For a murder maybe, but not too likely for disturbing the peace. The biggest mistake many people make is putting things off and hoping it will go away. That's when the "pulled over on friday night" scenario tends to happen...

Answer 3

You would not be arrested at the airport for this type of offence. However, if the police stopped you for a routine check they would see that there is a warrant out for your arrest and you would be arrested. You may be bailed or be remanded to the next working day to appear in court.

The best thing you can do is surrender to your local court or the court where the warrant was issued and tell them you would like to sort it out. They may be able to cancel the warrant there and then and make arrangements for you to pay or you may be given a court date to return to sort out how you will pay.

Either way, they will deal with you much more favourably if you surrender yourself rather than wait to be picked up.

Answer 4

Yes you can be arrested. A warrant is active until the defendant is arrested or the case is dismissed and the warrant declared inactive by a judge.

I don't know about getting nabbed at the airport but you will no doubt get arrested eventually in your lifetime if you do not take care of it. I would just call the apporiate court and make arrangements to come in and take care of it.

Answer 5

Potentially, this is standard procedure for where I live. If someone is picked up with a supposed open warrant the officer would call down to central warrants to confirm the warrant is still active. If so, that officer would then make contact with an officer from whatever department issued the original citation that leads up to this warrant and that department would determine what they want to do, such as: recite or pick the offender up then determine whether to arrest or recite back to court. With you going to the airport, I can't believe they would pick up on something like that unless they run you through interpol and even for such a small offense like that I doubt anything would happen.

Answer 6

Your problem is now larger than it was because you not only have the old fine, but quite possibly additional charges related to your failure to pay.

If you can afford it, contact an attorney in your town and arrange through him/her to pay the fine and anything else necessary to clear this up.

You are hardly likely to be on a Homeland Security watch list for this - except, of course, you made it an international subject by discussing it here - and you might well evade trouble until someone stops you for a broken taillight or other reason ... and BANG! You go to jail!

So take care of it and don't do stupid stuff like this again.

Answer 7

Of course you can be arrested. You need to address the issue. These things have a way of appearing at the most inopportune time. (How would you like to be going to your wedding, get pulled over and find an old warrant that they take you to jail for. Also, I know someone who was at their pool, ran across the street to a vending machine in their bikini and was stopped and went to jail for an outstanding warrant. She spent the entire time in her bikini (they could've given her a jumper but they didn't) about 8 hours, which is about how long it takes to process out.)

You'd learn a lot in jail. And the "phone call" can only be made to a family member or friend COLLECT at the cost of about $80, so take care of this at YOUR convenience because if it is at their convenience you will pay a lot of money.

Peace.

Answer 8

you CAN be arrested for any outstanding warrant no matter what offense it was or how large or small it was.

A warrant is a warrant, there is no-way to get out of it at all.
I highly doubt that they will get you at the airport, but the second you get pulled over they will put you in jail. So you might want to make arrangements to go into the jail yourself and take care of the matter.

Answer 9

Unfortunately for you, yes, a warrant once issued has on expiration date, they can only be disolved by a court, and that would be... after you get nicked.

Be prepared to be arrested when you come through the airport, as yor passport details will be flagged

Answer 10

This has nothing to do with how small the offense is, it has to do with you disregarding the court order to pay it. Judges don't like that.

You probably won't get caught at the airport, but this will come back eventually if you don't take care of it.