Will You Get Arrested If You Use El Paso County’s Warrant Amnesty

Whenever either the City of El Paso or the County of El Paso announces a warrant amnesty program, one of the questions that always gets asked is "Will I get arrested if I show up?" El Paso County leaders announced that they will be holding a warrant amnesty program in the month of February so let's talk about what you need to know.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
If you have a Class C misdemeanor that has turned into a warrant you can get your warrant fee dropped and Failure To Appear in court dismissed. You'll have to take care of the original citation but you won't have to pay the warrant fee or deal with the consequences of the Failure To Appear. A Justice of the Peace said the Class C misdemeanors are citations or possibly possession of drug paraphernalia, and the reason why she is putting the program into place in February is because people struggle to get those misdemeanors taken care of, especially people in rural areas of the county. She said things can get out of control when the misdemeanor is issued because it might prevent them from getting things like a drivers license which could keep them from getting back to work and then things spiral from there.

JUDGE'S DISCRETION
Under the warrant amnesty program not only will the warrant fee get dropped and the Failure To Appear in court dismissed but if the judge in your particular case wants to, they could also reduce the original fine as well. The judge said that sometimes people are worried about finding out about or doing something about an outstanding warrant because they're worried they can't get the fines taken care of. She said the warrant amnesty program gives them the chance to do that. So the question is...

WILL I GET ARRESTED?
The judge said you won't get arrested if you choose to not pay your warrant. It will stay active so there is still the possibility of getting arrested later if you're caught with it still active, but you won't be arrested if you go to ask about your warrant, don't pay it and leave. But try to pay it because the amnesty program only lasts until February 28.