Local Democratic Candidates Clash Over How to Fix Dallas County Courts' Messy Records Problem

Both the candidates in a local judge’s race are calling out the county’s antiquated and dysfunctional system for tracking criminal cases in justice of the peace courts, which in many cases leaves people who have paid fines subject to arrest because of outdated records.

“As a new JP, I noticed that Dallas County is using a 20- to 30- year-old system,” said Judge Mike Jones, the incumbent Democrat running for reelection in Dallas County’s Precinct 4-1. “Meaning, we are still using manila folders, we’re still using paper,” he said.

Judges in JP courts handle minor criminal charges like traffic violations and other class C misdemeanors punished mainly by fine. JPs also hear truancy cases, disputes between landlords and tenants and sometimes adjudicate on minor civil disputes.

A manila-folder-and-paper system, Jones soon realized, was grossly inadequate for tracking the volume and variety of cases moving through Dallas’ 11 JP courts. From Jones’ election to the bench in 2019 through 2021, his court alone processed more than 78,000 cases, he said by phone. Other JP courts took on more than 100,000 over the same period, according to audits.

That presents a glaring problem, according to Jones’ challenger LaSonja Flowers-Ivory: Arrest warrants that should be inactivated are left in the system, leaving people who should be clear of criminal charges listed as targets for arrest and detainment.

“It is unacceptable that 1,022 active warrants were out for people who had a balance of zero,” Flowers-Ivory said. “As a Black woman, I am horrified at the thought of one of my Black friends paying their ticket but still having a warrant, then getting picked up someplace,” she added.

According to the county’s latest audit of JP Court 4-1, which was published in late December last year, auditors found that 1,022 warrants that should have been closed after defendants paid their fines were left active.

The audit states that all invalid warrants identified by the county’s review were voided as of Aug. 16.

Flowers-Ivory says Jones should have acted quicker. “You’ve been in that office nearly three years. And two audits later, you’re saying basically the same thing,” she said.

Jones fully acknowledges the urgency of the courts’ records problem, and has made digitizing JP courts’ records a top campaign priority. “The reason I brought that up is that we can be better, but we all have errors because of the way that our current functional capability is set up,” he said. “It’s not just my court but all JP Courts."

The candidates will face off in the Democratic primary on March 1.