The Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) is warning persons with outstanding court and traffic violation fines to pay up, as failure to do so will result in persons being arrested and detained until warrants are paid in full.
Persons are being encouraged to pay the fines at the District Court office where they were imposed. March 4, 2022 is the deadline given for payment of these fines.
The notice, which appeared on the RSLPF’s Facebook page, noted that police will embark on an island wide warrant execution drive. It also called on persons to whom the notice apply to cooperate.
According to police, once a fine is imposed by the court a reasonable amount of time is afforded, including plans to facilitate payments. These payments are usually agreed to by the individual who the fine was imposed upon with consideration for their financial position. Also, a warrant is usually issued after repeated or extended failure to make any payment, and oftentimes persons are contacted by officers to do so.
In the case of traffic violations, all tickets are issued with a court date affixed to the back, where persons may choose to challenge the validity of the ticket. Once a court date has elapsed and payment is not made, then the process of issuing a warrant commences.
According to police, it is critical to note that court fines and the resulting warrants are not solely due to traffic violations as is being portrayed. Most court imposed fines are for other serious breaches of the law, including theft, wounding, grievous harm and other matters where individuals suffer personal injury or loss.
Police say the notice was issued due to recalcitrant offenders, who continue to display a blatant disregard for legal processes. Further, that the period of notice is in no way unreasonable.