15.5 Voiding Traffic Citations

Centreville Police Department Title: Voiding Traffic Citations Directive #: 15.5 Issued: 10.1.2016 Revised: 10.1.2016 Approved by: Charles M. Rhodes, Jr.

Chief of Police A. Purpose To provide officers guidance regarding administratively voiding citations and handling citations or Safety Equipment Repair Orders issued in error.

B. Policy Officers will follow the following procedures when voiding citations and Safety Equipment Repair Orders (SERO).

C. Procedures

1. Citations Eligible for Administrative Voidance

a. Only handwritten citations that have not been issued may be administratively voided.

b. Any citation issued to a violator must follow the usual adjudication procedures in court.

c. Citations may be administratively voided by the Chief when:

(1) an error is made while writing a citation;

(2) copies of an unused citation have been lost or stolen; or

(3) copies have become damaged to the extent that they are not suitable for issuance.

2. Responsibilities

a. The officers will submit the following to his immediate supervisor:

(1) all copies of the citation; and

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(2) a memo outlining the circumstances necessitating voidance of the citation.

b. Supervisors will:

(1) ensure the citation meets the criteria for voidance; and

(2) promptly forward the copies to the Chief.

c. The Chief will:

(1) ensure the citation meets the criteria for voidance;

(2) write the void date in the violation date block;

(3) write “VOID” in large print across the front of the citation;

(4) forward the following to the District Court:

(a) COPY #1 and COPY #4, or photocopies if lost or stolen;

(b) a brief explanation of the circumstances; and

(c) the daily transmittal sheet.

3. Lost or Stolen Citations

a. In the event that all copies of a citation or an entire book is lost or stolen, the employee will complete a Equipment Loss/Damage Report.

2. All appropriate reports will be forwarded to the officer’s supervisor who will review the report and

forward it to Chief.

3. Upon receipt of the report, the Chief will notify the State Motor Vehicle Administration.

4. CItations Issued in Error

a. Once issued to a violator or submitted electronically through E-TIX, a citiation may only be voided in court.

b If a citation must be voided due to an error, the officer must request a disposition of nolle prosequi prior to the defendant’s legal requirement to respond to the citation.

c. Timelines must be strictly followed when requesting voidance of a citation issued in error.

Page 2 of 3 d. Responsibilities

(1) Immediately, officers will:

(a) notify the Lieutenant, via email, if a citation issued needs to be voided; and

(b) include an explanation of the circumstances in the email along with a copy of the citation.

(2) Within 24 hours of receiving the request, the Lieutenant will:

(a) review the circumstances of the case; and

(b) forward his recommendation to the Chief.

(3) Within 24 hours of receiving the request, the Chief will:

(a) review the circumstances of the case;

(b) submit a written request for a disposition of nolle prosequi to the State’s Attorney and request

return notification regarding the final disposition of the citation; and

(c) upon receiving written notification that a disposition of nolle prosequi has been entered,

submit a WebHelpDesk ticket requesting the data be removed from E- TIX; all supporting documentation will be attached to the WebHelpDesk ticket.

5. Removal of Data from Delta+

a. ITD will remove all data from Delta+ for electronic citations for which a disposition of nolle prosequi was entered due to an error.

b. Expungement requests received from the State’s Attorney will be submitted via a WebHelpDesk ticket by the receiving commander to ITD.

c. Upon receiving a WebHelpDesk ticket and all supporting documentation, ITD will remove all related data from Delta+.

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