Are our local codes warrants and parking tickets piling up in boxes?

There are is a lot of concern in Coatesville about codes violations, slumlords, enforcing zoning, sign laws, animal control and other local regulation enforcement. A lot of people are concerned about illegal parking. I believe none of our codes, parking or any local regulations can be enforced.

 I wrote this on February 15, 2011:

 Unenforceable laws?

 Parking tickets and code violations are already ignored by a few connected people, but they mostly are paid.  Coatesville Police can’t handle extra duty serving warrants.  There are outstanding warrants in Coatesville for more serious crimes.  So are we stuck with unenforceable laws until we have a mechanism for municipalities to use State Constables? Does anybody know how to do it? 

County changes warrant collection system

 I believe Judge MacElree, consulting with no one, made a thoughtless decision that if not quickly rescinded could have disastrous consequences for the entire County. I wonder how the Republican Party will spin this one. 

POSTED BY JIM PITCHERELLA AT 3:27 PM 

 “In a one-page order dated Feb. 9, Chester County Court of Common Pleas President Judge James P. MacElree II said that beginning immediately; all such warrants would be issued by magisterial district judges only to the municipal police department from which the original violation allegedly occurred. Previously, those warrants were assigned to state constables for collection. The courts would also be restricted from posting the warrant on the county's Web Enforcement Bureau database.

 ‘The order came as a surprise to most of us,’ said Downingtown Police Chief

James McGowan. "Most of the chiefs are greatly concerned and have a lot of reservations."

See:

Warrant changes raise new questions 

Published: Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Our magisterial judges are issuing warrants for parking tickets and code violations. They then allegedly go and sit in a box.

Allegedly nothing at all has been done to change Judge MacElree’s order. It's technically possible for a local police officer to accompany a state constable to serve a warrant for unpaid parking tickets or local code violations but to my knowledge that has never occurred.  So Chester County’s Pennsylvania Magisterial Court District Judges decisions function in cases were Commonwealth Law was violated and in civil law cases. But at this moment when a warrant is issued in Chester County for the volition of local ordnance that warrant is NOT SERVED.

Since President Judge James P. MacElree’s surprise order on February 9, 2011 parking tickets and code violation warrants allegedly have been piling up in the offices of the Coatesville Police Department.  Something similar may be happening in every other municipality in Chester County.

When a warrant is served by a State Constable in Chester County the Chester County Courts collect a $15.00 fee. Allegedly parking and code violation warrants sit unserved over Chester County. Since February 9, 2011 those $15.00 fees that have not been collected because the warrants were never served have allegedly might have accumulated to over $100,000.

We once had a State Constable system in place in Chester County to serve warrants. Warrants for Commonwealth violations are being served by State Constables but warrants for local municipal violations are allegedly basically discarded. I would rather see those warrants piling up in boxes, our Chester County Courts loosing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and local codes and parking violations not enforced than to have our local police removed from protecting citizens and made into chauffeurs accompanying constables to serve warrants.

Right now I believe that Chester County is officially a Laissez-faire slumlord and parking county. I believe the slumlords already know they can get away with almost any local violation. Federal Section 8 enforcement by the County might keep some properties from literally falling down.  I think putting quarters in parking meters anywhere in Chester County is at this moment purely voluntary. Your parking tickets warrants will sit in a box, most likely for at least 2 more years.

Judge MacElree is not up for retention until 2013 so we may be stuck with tons of unserved warrants. 

Maybe all of us should just get into the routine of voting no on retention of Judges.

I’m not even going to get into what Judge MacElree allegedly does to tiny little dogs.

UPDATE:

Well, just so people know what I’m referring to; I’ll get into the shooting a tiny little dog on top of his head thing a little bit:

The Daily Local (dailylocal.com), Serving Chester County, PA

Frontpage

Judge shoots neighbor’s pet

"NEWLIN -- Common Pleas Judge James P. MacElree II shot and killed a neighbor’s pet dog while it was on his land, apparently trying to keep the dog from attacking a goose which lives on the judge’s property.

 Thursday, February 1, 2001

By Michael P. Rellahan"