Travis County Warrants are like that alley cat you used to feed at your college apartment. They just never really go away. Sometimes it’s a hot check you wrote by accident, or a ticket you never paid off. Just as often it’s failure to pay surcharges for some ticket or small offense that you may never have known about because your address has changed. Even if you don’t think you have a Travis County warrant, it never hurts to check just to be sure.
If you think you may have an arrest warrant in Austin because of a ticket or from DPS surcharges, you can check online at the Austin Municipal Court’s warrant search website. You can find a little more information about ticket warrants on our Warrants Page. The good news is that most of these warrants can be cleared simply by starting a payment plan to pay the fines. The Austin Municipal Court website has all the phone numbers and information you need to clear a traffic warrant yourself, or set up payments on outstanding DPS surcharges. It’s a good idea to pay attention to those Travis County warrants, as well as any other county, because police agencies participate in an annual Great Texas Warrant Roundup every spring. It’s essentially a few weeks of collaboration and sharing of resources between hundreds of law enforcement entities, courts, and cities across the state in an effort to collect on unpaid tickets, court fees, child support payments, etc., or take you to jail.
On the other hand, if you think you may have a Travis County warrant because of a criminal charge, you can check the links for Austin Police Warrantsand Travis County Warrants on their respective warrant pages. If you find a warrant listed, you can also find information about the type of charge, the bond amount (if any), and the cause number. Having a warrant fora criminal charge means you should consult a jail release lawyer as soon as possible, or face the real risk of being picked up at your home or workplace and taken to jail, unless you get pulled over first. Not flattering no matter what you have on.
Walk Through
There’s never a good time to be arrested, but our firm can help clear warrants by arranging for a walk through, or voluntary surrender with a bond in place. A walk through means the lawyer arranges the bond in advance. The person then reports to the jail and is still booked and printed as if they had been arrested, but they are released after the booking process. A bail bondsman can perform the same process, but their fee only covers the jail release. When our criminal attorneys are hired on a case, the first priority is getting the defendant out on bond, as well as providing counsel and representation on the criminal charge.We also often help people who have a Travis County warrant, but now live out of county or even outside of Texas. In many cases, we are able to clear the warrant without the necessity of having to travel back to Texas at all.
Ignoring a Travis County warrant, or Austin police warrant, is never a good idea because they never go away. Let us help get it cleared up, or at least tell you what you need to know. Give us a call at 512 472-6565, we’d love to see if we can help.