Cops using old tickets cost motorists
Marnie Krause was obviously upset about her traffic ticket, but what happened when she tried to pay it was just absurd.
Krause decided to mail the payment certified rather than go downtown to pay it. Following the directions on the back of the ticket, she sent $95 and applied for the drivers ed course. Two weeks later her ticket was sent back with a request for $103, a rate passed by the state on December 1 of last year. Turns out the officer that wrote Krause a ticket had been using an old ticket book.
So now it’s a situation of the court blaming the officer for using an outdated ticket book.
Krause feels that the court should honor the price printed on her ticket. And she’s not the only one. Houston courts are sending around 75 tickets back to motorists each week because of outdated forms.
HPD’s solution - you should check your ticket against published rates to make sure you’ve got a current ticket. Why should we have to do that? It’s bad enough that most people will choose to pay to send a payment via certified mail instead of having to go downtown to pay it. Then, they’re forced to send it again because HPD can’t figure out how to get new ticket books to its officers. I understand HPD is a big organization with many officers, but don’t they have meetings? Why can’t they just hand out the new books next time they take roll before the cops go out? Somewhere there’s a list of all the officers. Check ‘em off as they turn in their old book to be replaced with the new.
Link via Click2Houston.com