One Way To Avoid Arrest In The Capital City I love my City. I was born is Selma, AL, but have been living in Montgomery since I was 5 years old. Growing up on the Southside, Buckingham to be exact, I am well versed in the lifestyles of Montgomerians from all walks of life. Anyone who has their ear to the streets has heard complaints surrounding the unfairness of checkpoints and roadblocks (being on certain sides of town only) and that a large portion of the population has at least one ticket that they may not have been able to pay, especially in this recession. Now, if you’re a law-abiding citizen that is appalled by the mention of not paying your tickets, good for you. But, if you’re among the population of individuals that may have tickets that have passed the due date, there is a way to avoid spending your holidays behind bars. I’m sure you remember when the City of Montgomery offered the Amnesty Program back in 2009. This Program offered the opportunity to pay a percentage of the tickets owed to the City and get your warrants lifted and a clean slate, per se. Well, and this is evidence of how many people have tickets and open warrants in the City of Montgomery, Mayor Todd Strange has permanently implemented an Amnesty Light Program. This Program allows individuals who have tickets totaling less than $1,500, to come to the window (instead of sending a friend or family member) and get on a payment plan to resolve this issue. If your fines are more than $1,500, don’t fret. This Program works for you as well. By going to the window with this amount owed on your record, you will be scheduled to appear before a judge at a later date, and not have to spend a night in jail. This is an attempt to minimize the jail population. It’s also meant to allow police officers to focus on more serious crime by allowing these individuals to take care of their tickets at the window without police officers having to be called out to make an arrest. The Mayor is trying to give everyone a chance to clear his or her name. Not sure if you have warrants? I’m including a link to a website that you can input your information several different ways to check if there are any open warrants in the system attached to your name, Social Security Number, and/or date of birth. You can also make payments on this site and keep the receipt in your car in case you get pulled over before all of the tickets are paid off. Since we are getting closer to income tax season, it may be a wise decision to review both of the sites I have listed below to make sure that you are aware of the program as well as to make sure that you don’t have any tickets that you aren’t aware of. It would be a terrible way to spend your first days, weeks, or months of 2012 behind bars. Amnesty Light Program: http://blog.al.com/montgomery/2011/07/montgomery_amnesty_light_progr.html Alapay Websearch and Online Payment System: https://uscourts.com/AlaPay/PayMontgomery.aspx PASS THE WORD!!!
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