The Herbert T. Jenkins Atlanta Police Academy strives to keep employees within the department informed of new information applicable to the performance of their duties.  Roll call training is designed to provide up-to-date information about changes in Department policies, and procedure, as well as to provide notification of any changes in criminal law or other areas that affect Department employee or the performance of their duties.

The Atlanta Police Department places the highest value upon the partnership established between the Department and the City of Atlanta Municipal Court.  To this end, the following information is provided in order to remedy several identified problems with the completion of traffic and municipal level general citations – and their delivery to Municipal Court.

A         Field Officers

1.      Citations with a felony or misdemeanor CASE and a traffic case arising out of the same conduct should be forwarded to EITHER STATE OR SUPERIOR COURT IN FULTON COUNTY. They cannot be split between Municipal Court and Fulton County Court.

Note:  Court case law holds that when criminal violations arise out of a routine traffic stop, the traffic charges are not required (as a matter of law) to be made.  A suspected violator can be charged with the higher criminal violations only.  However, the officer must articulate in the arrest report, the probable cause and/or articulable suspicion that the original stop was based on.

A failure of justice could occur in a situation when an individual appears at traffic court and pays a fine for the violation, then is required to appear IN FULTON COUNTY COURT on the criminal charge.  This could result in a double jeopardy situation.

2.      Officers who file an incorrect citation (e.g. “City Court of Atlanta”) AND IT IS REJECTED BY THE COURT cannot rewrite the charge on a new citation without serving it to the accused.  IF YOU DO NOT SERVE THE REWRITTEN CITATION, THE DEFENDANT WILL NOT HAVE THE CORRECT COPY OF THE CHARGING DOCUMENT THAT WAS FILED WITH THE COURT AND CANNOT BE PROSECUTED DUE TO LACK OF SERVICE.  IF THE REWRITTEN CITATION IS BOOKED INTO THE COURT AND THE DEFENDANT WAS NOT SERVED, the likelihood of a bad warrant being issued increases.

Note:  This does not mean that you cannot void a citation with errors at the time of the arrest.  However, if THE TICKET IS NOT REWRITTEN AND REISSUED AT THE TIME OF ARREST, you cannot reissue another citation at this point without serving it to the accused.

3.      Officers must have the defendant sign the citation or enter “refused to sign.”  If they leave the signature portion blank, there is no proof of service.  Without proof of service, license suspensions and the issuing of warrants become problematic.

4.      Only one charge per citation can be listed on a traffic ticket.  The additional lines are for the probable cause narrative, not for additional charges!  A brief narrative should be included on all citations so the Solicitor will know what probable cause existed to support the charge(s).

5.      NO TRAFFIC CHARGES SHOULD BE WRITTEN ON GENERAL (GREEN) CITATIONS.

6.   If the juvenile is sixteen years of age or under and the offense is a minor traffic offense,  

Officers’ will follow the same procedures for issuing a copy of traffic charges as prescribed for an adult when a responsible person is available to take charge of the juvenile.  The court date on the ticket will be marked “JUVENILE.”  The officer MUST fill out a juvenile complaint form and deliver it to Juvenile Court with the traffic citation.

Note: Do not list a regular court date, this information will be provided by the Juvenile Court possessing jurisdiction.  Juvenile citations must be delivered to the Fulton County Juvenile Court with the Juvenile complaint form– Not the City of Atlanta Municipal Court.

B.                Supervisors Responsibilities

1.                  In several cases, supervisors have signed and approved citations with errors or missing information (e.g. speeding ticket without the violators charged speed, traffic citation copy not signed by the defendant, and/or not specifying, “refused to sign.”

2.                  Several citations (both general and traffic) have been delivered to Municipal Court after the assigned court date has passed.  This is unacceptable and results in a failure of justice.  General copies have, in many cases, been delivered to the Central Records Unit prior to being delivered to the Court.  This step is not necessary and only adds to the delay.  APD.SOP 3161 (Delivering Tickets to the Courts) should be adhered to in order that this does not continue to occur.  The Central Records Unit will no longer accept these copies.

3.                  UNIFORM TRAFFIC CITATIONS WITH THE OLD “CITY COURT” INFORMATION SHOULD NO LONGER BE IN CIRCULATION. ANY PERSON ARRESTED ON ONE OF THESE OLD CITATIONS WILL BE RELEASED FROM THE JAIL.  ANY COPY CASES SENT TO THE COURT ON THESE OLD CITATIONS WILL BE REJECTED AND SENT BACK.

4.                  Parking citations with the old “City Court” information should no longer be in circulation.  Please ensure all officers and TCI’s are issued the new parking citations with the correct information on them.

5.                  Incomplete tickets are being turned in to Municipal Court.  The court personnel are unable to process incomplete citations.  The most common omissions are court dates and times, officer information, offense time and date, and address information.  Supervisors should review all citations for accuracy and completeness prior to delivering them to the courts!

C.                Concurrent Jurisdiction

1.                  The City of Atlanta Municipal Court has concurrent jurisdiction and can process the

following charges:

·        3-3-23 Furnishing to, purchase or possession of alcoholic beverage (<21 years of age)

·        16-8-14 Theft by Shoplifting (under $300.00)

·        16-13-30 (j)(2) Possession of Marijuana (< 1 ounce)

·        16-13-2(b) POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA (LESS THAN ONE OUNCE)                                                     

Any state statute not listed above must be made through EITHER STATE OR SUPERIOR COURT IN FULTON COUNTY.

2.                  The City of Atlanta Municipal Court has jurisdiction on all Title 40 traffic related violations except:

·        40-5-58 Determination of habitual violator (as determined by the Department of Public Safety)

·        40-6-393 Homicide by vehicle 1^ST AND 2^ND DEGREE

·        40-6-394 Serious injury by vehicle

·        40-6-395 FELONY Fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer; impersonation of a law enforcement officer

3.                  Individuals charged with a traffic related failure to appear or license suspension must

have a service/surrender date on file with the state – GCIC will advise as to whether a service/surrender date has been filed.  Individuals listed without a service date will be charged with operating a motor vehicle without a valid license (40-5-20).  If the individual has a service and surrender date, the charge will be driving while license suspended or revoked (40-5-121.)

D.                City Ordinance Violations

1.                  City ordinance violations of disorderly conduct – 106-81(6) continue to be problematic.  This issue was discussed in several previous training issues as it relates to the element of intent.  A person cannot be charged with DC-6 simply because he/she is in or about a location where the listed illegal activity is occurring. 

The arresting officer must show that the charged person intended to, or has taken part in the illegal activity.

(Example:  Officers serve a narcotics warrant on 121 Elm St. (NE) and seize five- (5) ounces of crack cocaine.  The dealer is arrested along with two individuals that had just purchased cocaine.  However, in an adjacent room is three individuals drinking beer and watching a football game.  In order to charge these individuals with a DC-6 violation, the officer must show some connection to the illegal activity – physical evidence, admissions of intent, etc., not just the fact that they were in the location.) 

If this connection cannot be shown to a 4^th Amendment standard of probable cause, the arrest could be considered an illegal one subjecting the arresting officer to liability for false arrest.

2.                  City of Atlanta Code of Ordinance 106-85 Begging and soliciting alms, has been deleted.  The violation was merged into Section 106-81 Disorderly Conduct, subsection (13).  All persons arrested for the new commercial solicitation violation should be charged as 106-81(13).

E.                 Summary

Officers and supervisors are a critical link in the process of ensuring that the administration of justice is carried out in a timely manner.  The unnecessary delay and lack of attention to detail will only slow the process and could subject arresting officers and supervisors to additional liability factors.

A current review process is being set up between APD and Municipal Court to address each and every citation improperly filed.  The issuing officer AND the reviewing supervisor will be held responsible for errors and disciplined accordingly.

Questions concerning this training issue should be addressed to the respective supervisor or the Academy at (404) 209-5250

Note:  Roll call training is intended to provide a vehicle for the timely dissemination of information.  When conflicts are noted between information contained in this training issue and formal written directives, the written directives always take precedence.