Stay out of my beach community, deadbeat

November 26, 2007 6:13 PM

How can I find out if there is a warrant for my arrest, in Monterey, California?

Roughly a year ago I was pulled over for slow-rolling a stop sign. The citation included penalties for that and a fixit for my address, as my license read San Diego. I've since moved and gotten a correct ID with updated address, but never informed the Monterey PD about it, and never did anything regarding the other infraction. I received a few collection notices from 3rd party agencies about the ticket, but nothing from the city itself, and would like to figure out if the matter was dropped or I'm a fugitive from the law. (I realize it's unlikely it was dropped, but the violation occurred literally outside my front door and I felt the cop might have taken sympathy when after the stop they noticed me get out of the car and walk inside rather than continue driving).

posted by anonymous to Law & Government (7 answers total)

You can search the Monterey Count Superior Court Records and see if the records note an arrest warrant or other notices.
posted by wilde at 6:47 PM on November 26, 2007

You call the court clerk, they will have any record of a warrant and how to clear it.
posted by kanemano at 6:52 PM on November 26, 2007

Was there a court date you missed? You'd probably have a bench warrant if that was the case. Otherwise I wouldn't think you'd have a warrant out for you (assuming this isn't 1 of like 100 outstanding tickets) but I could be wrong... Just call looks a lot better if you come forward wanting to clear it up rather than waiting for them to find you.
posted by whoaali at 7:10 PM on November 26, 2007

The court has all that info. A phone call will do the trick.
posted by HotPatatta at 7:12 PM on November 26, 2007

Seconding what kanemano said. Call the court clerk and ask. It sounds like your citations are all misdemeanors, so it'll be simple to pay your fines and clear it up. And you'll feel so much better once you get the worry off your shoulders.
posted by amyms at 7:15 PM on November 26, 2007

Is there a clearinghouse version of this?

ie., is there any way to check if there's an outstanding warrant on you in any state or if a federal warramt has been issued?
posted by porpoise at 9:21 PM on November 26, 2007

Try to rent a car, and you'll find out if your drivers license is or is not suspended. (That was how I found out the situation around a ticket I'd ignored had gotten really serious.) If it's a year, they probably haven't quite gotten around to it yet, but I'm just guessing. I'm in Cali too, so I'd take care of it. They even keep track of your dang parking tickets from various cities via the DMV and don't let you renew your registration without paying them; there's no way they're going to forget about a moving violation.
posted by salvia at 10:09 PM on November 26, 2007 [1 favorite]