What to do if you have an outstanding warrant

  • Post published:July 8, 2020
  • Post category:Bail Bonds

If you have a hunch that you have an outstanding arrest warrant or know for sure, it can be incredibly stressful constantly looking over our shoulder and feeling that you have no control over the situation. However, you may not know it but you have more control than you think and may even negotiate to avoid arrest altogether. Here is a quick overview of what to know about outstanding arrest warrants.

See if there is a warrant in the first place

The first and arguably most important step is to first absolutely confirm that you do in fact have a warrant out for your arrest. The easiest way to do this is to call a local bail bonds agency who has access to databases who can search to see if there is a warrant and what the reason there is for one. Typically warrants are only issued for a couple of reasons. Either the defendant did not show up to their scheduled court hearing in which a judge will issue a bench warrant for arrest or if a person is a suspect for criminal activity. If this is the case then an investigation on the side of law enforcement has had to have occurred so this type is not usually coming out of the blue. The last reason why there may be a warrant is if a person has too many outstanding tickets which may be a reason a person may not be aware of a pending arrest if they had not been keeping track.

What your options are if there is a warrant

If there is in fact a warrant out for your arrest then the immediate thing you want to do is contact a lawyer. This can be hugely important because they can help you figure out if an actual arrest is an absolute necessity. In terms of a criminal investigation leading to an arrest, there is no real way to avoid arrest but a lawyer can still help to negotiate the terms of surrender so that you aren’t arrested at an inopportune time. However, with bench warrants or outstanding tickets, you may be able to work with a bail bondsman to pay the related fines or bonds to avoid actually being arrested. You will probably still need to show up to court but you won’t have to be taken into custody.