WHAT DRIVES CITATIONS: Getting pulled over takes a person on a journey through the justice system

A common misconception in Brazoria County and beyond is officers issue so many tickets because it pays their salaries and because they have quotas. That is not the case, local city leaders said, and provided some numbers to back it up.

The adopted Lake Jackson budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, shows traffic fines don't cover much more than the municipal court, City Manager Bill Yenne said.

"Basically, revenue generated by fines is barely enough to cover the municipal costs but not expenditures," Yenne said. "The only purpose for traffic citations is to fine lawbreakers which makes the city safer. It is the penalty for breaking the law."

Much of the fine from a traffic ticket doesn't even stay in the city. Lake Jackson Police Lt. Bryan Sidebottom said. The money goes straight into the general fund and leaves the city.

"A lot of the revenue from fines goes to the state," Yenne said. "The Legislature tacked on fees to tickets — a boatload of fees. And they get their money first before it ever goes to the city."

The percentage of each citation that is sent to Austin varies depending on the infraction, Sidebottom said. On a $100 ticket, he estimated $70 to $80 goes into state coffers.

Regardless of how much the state gets, Lake Jackson's budget shows revenue from traffic citations is expected to increase by $50,800 to $540,800 in 2019, while the expected expenses for the municipal court are $439,565 for the year.

The reason for the increase is not because of higher fines or an intention to issue more tickets, but because the traffic division had been understaffed for two years, Yenne said.

Since the start of 2016, one of the division's officers retired and another transferred to the department's Criminal Investigations Division. The third officer, John Hogan, was on medical leave recovering from injuries he sustained in December 2015 when a fleeing driver swerved his vehicle into Hogan's motorcycle in order to avoid a spike trap. It took him 13 months to return to full duty.

The city hired two new motorcycle officers and one to patrol in a car to give the department a full complement of traffic officers in 2018-19.

POLICE PROCEDURE

While it's true law enforcement officers have a number of reasons to pull over a vehicle, they are because of speeding, swerving or other infractions. And not all traffic stops lead to tickets.

"I would say about 50 percent of all stops result in warnings," Sidebottom said. "A small percentage are also arrests for offenses such as driving while intoxicated."

When a Lake Jackson police officer needs to pull someone over, they follow a procedure called the seven-step violator protocol. The steps are:

1. Observe a violation;

2. Stop vehicle violator and approach vehicle;

3. Make contact;

4. Advise them of the violation;

5. Check identification;

6. Advise statement of action to be taken. For example, the officer lets them know if their driver license inquiry is clear, they will be written a warning, and if not, they will be issued a citation.

7. Take action and explain what the violator must do. Sign promise to appear. Answer any questions.

From that point, the person cited has the option to pay the entire fine or appear in front of a municipal judge on or before their scheduled court appearance date.

HOW DO YOU PLEAD?

Once the person has been ticketed and goes to the courthouse for the municipality in which it was issued, the first step is to talk to the clerk.

Most people don't know this, but the clerk can help with payments, set up community service or even deferment, said Milan Miller, Freeport associate municipal judge, who also is a retired justice of the peace for precinct 1 place 2.

"But if the defendant wants to talk to the judge, they can either enter a plea of guilty or no contest and take care of the fine then and there or plead not guilty and be set for the arraignment docket, which is a pre-trial docket," Miller said.

When in court, it's possible the judge will offer a plea bargain.

"For example, someone comes to me with a speeding ticket and says, 'I was doing 60 in a 55 but the officer said I was doing 65.' I might tell them to plead no contest and offer to defer it to keep it off their record, but only charge the full fine and court costs," Miller said.

If the person refuses the plea bargain and wants to fight it, then they have the option of a jury trial or a trial by judge.

"If the person goes before the court to ask for leniency due to indigence, the judge has to allow them to dispose of it other than by paying money, such as community service," Miller said. "That is the law."

To be found indigent, a single person with no dependents must make less than $15,175 a year, according to federal poverty guidelines.

If given community service, a person can expect to pay off $100 in eight hours, Miller said. It's the same as working for $12.50 an hour.

A person also always has the option to sit out their fine in jail. In Freeport, if you voluntarily turn yourself in it's good for $200 every 24 hours, he said.

GUILTY, THEN WHAT?

"There are a lot of steps the court has to go through before a person gets jailed," Miller said. "But if someone signs up for community service or payments and they don't follow through and they don't re-sign up for something else, the court will send a 'show cause' letter to them."

The letter indicates the person must appear at a show cause hearing to explain to the judge why they haven't been paying or chipping away at the community service.

If the person still doesn't respond or show up to a hearing, it is a violation of the judge's letter and it allows the municipality to jail them and only pay off $100 of their ticket every 24 hours.

"It's much better to turn yourself in than run from the law," Miller said.

If a person under 25 years old gets a moving violation and they want to keep it off their driving record, they can take a defensive driving course. In addition, the individual will have to pay state court costs of about $110 on top of the price of the ticket, Miller said. Once they agree to do defensive driving, they have 90 days to turn in a completion certificate to the municipal court, whereby the citation will be dismissed with no conviction on their record.

If a person over 25 wants to get a ticket deferred, that person can request it to the clerk. A deferment fee of $50 to $100 is tacked on to the fine and other costs.

The clerk may notice there have been several deferments already, in which case the judge will be asked whether to grant it, Miller said.

"Know your rights," Miller said. "Moving violation fines are a maximum of $200 and you can't go to jail for speeding or having an open container."

Local attorney Jeff Purvis, who has been practicing law for 24 years, more than 20 of those in private practice in Brazoria County, believes there's much less discretion afforded by prosecutors and judges in municipal courts in the county than in the past, he said.

He has seen a rise in judgments where, in his view, the defendant's extenuating circumstances were not taken into consideration, he said.

"Twenty years ago, a lawyer or someone representing themselves could go in and explain to the judge or prosecutor that they were speeding because of an emergency, or they left their brights on unknowingly because they were driving a new car or even that they haven't gotten a ticket in 20 years and are a safe driver, and if the judge was feeling generous, he could reduce the fine if he wanted," Purvis said.

It is his opinion that fine schedules, such that lay out the range of costs of each citation possibly issued, pre-judge the person who receives the ticket, Purvis said. The elected officials or hired employees can act as essentially collection agents, he said.

"That is not how the justice system is supposed to work," he said.

COURT OF RECORD

Lake Jackson, Angleton and Pearland are unique among other Texas cities because they operate what's known as a court of record, meaning they have a clerk or reporter keep a record of court proceedings. The distinction means if a person is found guilty, they can only use what occurred during their trial as grounds for their appeal to a county court.

"The practical purpose of becoming a court of record is revenue," Purvis said. "It prevents litigants from removing a case from municipal courts and thereby robbing that municipality from the ability to assess a fine."

It has been his experience that courts in the county have acted more as a direct function of city government, he said.

"Lake Jackson made a decision to become a court of record. This requires its judges to be actual lawyers," Purvis said. "Keeping records of proceedings increases court costs. Why become a court of record if all that it paid to do was cover the court?"

Yenne disagrees with Purvis' views on the reasoning behind becoming a court of record.

"All we're trying to do is get compliance," Yenne said.

The No. 1 goal is keeping people safe and that is the reason for issuing citations and becoming a court of law, he said.