DA stops prosecuting driver’s license cases

For the past seven weeks, the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office has stopped prosecuting cases involving drivers whose licenses are revoked for owing fines.

The DA’s office officially announced the policy change Friday, saying it has eliminated about 43 percent of the docket in General Sessions Criminal Court.

That comes to more than 3,600 cases in Shelby County of “driving while license suspended, revoked or cancelled.”

“I think you want your DA’s office to focus on those individuals that are destroying lives,” Attorney General Amy Weirich said last week at the Frayser Exchange. “Everywhere I go and talk, I’ve never heard people tell me they are afraid of someone driving on revoked because they couldn’t pay child support.”

The policy was implemented Sept. 1 to keep drivers who cannot afford to pay existing fines and court costs from adding even more debt, according to a news release.

Those drivers can still be arrested by law enforcement officers and will be required to come to court, but in most cases there will be no prosecution or additional fines.

“These cases take up valuable time and resources in court and do nothing to move the needle on public safety,” Weirich said in a news release.

“We’re trying to help get people out of the revolving door in which they are

simply accumulating more and more debt for basically driving while poor. Those whose licenses have been revoked for reasons such as drunken driving or other criminal activity will still be prosecuted, but if your driver’s license has been revoked only because you owe fines or child support, the case will be dismissed.”

The Memphis Police Department is urging people with revoked or suspended licenses to take advantage of programs such as the City Court Clerk’s Drive While You Pay program or the upcoming Restoration Sunday, which is Oct. 27 at Metropolitan Baptist Church, which helps people get their licenses back.

“I encourage individuals with a revoked or suspended license to use alternative means of transportation as they seek to restore their driving privileges,” said Memphis Police Department Director Michael Rallings. “The Memphis Police Department will continue to enforce the laws of the state of Tennessee which includes T.C.A. 5550-504.”

Weirich’s policy change came shortly before a federal judge ruled that Tennessee can no longer revoke people’s driver’s licenses because they cannot afford to pay traffic tickets. People who already had their license suspended because of their failure to pay must ask the state to have their license reinstated.

DeAndre Brown, executive director of Lifeline to Success, called the change in prosecuting these cases a “smart.”

“We need to take into consideration where we live and the issue with transit,” Brown said. “You want people to be able to take care of themselves, but they can’t get to a place to take care of themselves.”