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NATCHEZ — Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten said his office’s telephones have been ringing off the hook since he called attention to a list of people in the county with outstanding warrants, which is available on the sheriff department’s website.

“People have been doing social media posts complaining about getting arrested for a traffic violation,” Patten said Friday morning. “I wanted to explain to people they are not getting arrested for a traffic violation, like a seatbelt violation. They are getting arrested because they chose not to pay the fine for a traffic violation, or did not contest a ticket in court and have an outstanding arrest warrant for that.”

Patten explained that when someone is issued a ticket or citation from law enforcement, if that ticket is ignored or not challenged in court, the judge will issue a contempt of court warrant for your arrest.

“This is my version of amnesty. You can access our list of outstanding warrants online. That will give people a chance to rectify the court before they are contacted by law enforcement,” he said. “Now everybody has a chance to check the website and to make sure they are not listed there. If you are listed there and you have taken care of your fine, we want you to contact us to make sure the proper paperwork has been filed for the warrant to be withdrawn.

“Otherwise, if you are on the list, we have an active warrant on you. If your name is on our website, you have an active warrant on you from some agency — the sheriff’s department, Natchez Police Department, Mississippi Highway Patrol, or some other agency.

“If your name is on our list of outstanding warrants and you call the Justice Court and the Justice Court says it has no active warrants on you, that means the warrant is from an outside agency and you should contact the sheriff’s office to find out who that agency is,” Patten said.

He said the Adams County Sheriff’s Office has talked to numerous people since he called attention to the warrants list on the website.

“You would be amazed at the number of people who have called us who didn’t know they had an outstanding warrant on them. I am glad they found out now and can take care of it, rather than us pulling them over when they are on their way to church,” Patten said.

The sheriff’s website is https://www.adamscosheriff.org/. ACSO telephone number is 601-442-2752.