WARRANTS NOW now in custody of montgomery county sheriff’s office

For many years people with warrants through the Justice of the Peace Courts were almost safe in Montgomery County from being arrested. That was due to warrants unable to be confirmed by Constables Departments after hours and on weekends and holidays. 

When an officer stops you and runs you on the computer it will show if you have warrants. Once they get a hit the warrant must be confirmed. Warrants from County and District Courts in Montgomery County are kept at the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Within minutes a clerk can pull a warrant (hard copy) and advise the officer on the street that the warrant is active and the person can be arrested.

The problem was that if it showed a Justice of the Peace warrant, the dispatcher had to contact a Constable from that Precinct to physically put his or her hands on that warrant. Most Constables offices do not have deputies on the streets at night or weekends. Therefore the officer could not hold the person on that warrant. Another issue was minimal staffing during those hours by Constables, The deputy could be on another call or at the jail but miles away from the office to verify the warrant.

That has all changed now. Earlier this year Sheriff Tommy Gage asked Commissioners for funding to created a Central Warrants Office. This office located in the Records Department and staffed by eight employees also requested by Sheriff Gage and granted.

Over the past week warrants from the five precincts around Montgomery County were delivered to the Sheriff’s Office.

Tuesday several of Precinct 4 employees delivered over 30,000 warrants held in their office. One of the largest in Montgomery County. In addition they disassembled a track filing system that Constable Hayden purchased just a year ago to keep those warrants. Once disassembled it was delivered to the Sheriff’s Office and reassembled to hold all the warrants from all five  precincts.

If you now have an active warrant through a Justice of the Peace Court and are stopped you can plan on a ride to the jail as that warrant is available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

If you believe you have an open warrant contact the Justice of the Peace Court and make arrangements to take care of it.