A Judge's Get-Tough Policy Has Brought In An Estimated $136,000 To Seminole County Coffers

SANFORD - Seminole County Judge John Sloop is giving deadbeats plenty of time to think about whether to pay their court-ordered fines.

Of course, they have to do their thinking behind bars.

Sloop teamed up with Clerk of Court Maryanne Morse last year to tackle the problem of lackadaisical attitudes toward paying fines imposed by judges. The get-tough pilot program just reached its one-year anniversary.

Morse credits the program with collecting $136,000 that otherwise probably would never have reached county coffers.

"It's not a panacea, but it is a starting point," Morse said. "It doesn't take very long in a community for people to realize, hey, if you don't pay your fine, nothing's going to happen to you anyway."

That's a perception Sloop and Morse want to change.

"Judges have traditionally said hay, I imposed a sentence and it's not up to me to carry it out," Sloop said. "I disagree with that."

People who don't pay their fines cost the county $65,000 a month, Morse estimates. That's money that could go toward services such as law enforcement, emergency medial services and juvenile justice. Statewide, about $1 billion is owed in overdue fines and costs, Morse said. For Seminole where 40 percent of defendants don't pay their fines, the figure is $6.5 million.

"This is a national problem, it's not just Seminole," Morse said.

Several states are trying new collection tactics but, as far as Sloop and Morse know, their program is the first of its kind. Here's how it works:

Each time Sloop imposes a fine as punishment in his misdemeanor court - where cases range from thefts to assaults to drunken driving - he asks how long it will take the defendant to pay. As long as it's a reasonable amount of time, Sloop agrees.

On the due date, a notice is sent out. If that fails, a warrant is issued to jail the person from 10 to 90 days.

That usually does the trick, Morse said. If the person wants out, bail must be paid in cash. It is used to pay the fine.

In the past year, 1,866 notices were sent out, prompting 575 people to pay. Another 91 went to jail and 1,058 failed to show up for court and have warrants against them.

If people get away without paying their fines, Sloop said, the crimes go unpunished.

"It's a whole lot better than before, which was letting the fines accumulate. But even worse was the message to the community."

Sloop said he will continue to use the jail-threat program. He and Morse hope other judges will adopt the tactic.

"You're never going to collect all of it (court fines), but you have to be able to collect some of it," Morse said. "It goes right back into the community."

A Judge's Get-Tough Policy Has Brought In An Estimated $136,000 To Seminole County Coffers

SANFORD - Seminole County Judge John Sloop is giving deadbeats plenty of time to think about whether to pay their court-ordered fines.

Of course, they have to do their thinking behind bars.

Sloop teamed up with Clerk of Court Maryanne Morse last year to tackle the problem of lackadaisical attitudes toward paying fines imposed by judges. The get-tough pilot program just reached its one-year anniversary.

Morse credits the program with collecting $136,000 that otherwise probably would never have reached county coffers.

"It's not a panacea, but it is a starting point," Morse said. "It doesn't take very long in a community for people to realize, hey, if you don't pay your fine, nothing's going to happen to you anyway."

That's a perception Sloop and Morse want to change.

"Judges have traditionally said hay, I imposed a sentence and it's not up to me to carry it out," Sloop said. "I disagree with that."

People who don't pay their fines cost the county $65,000 a month, Morse estimates. That's money that could go toward services such as law enforcement, emergency medial services and juvenile justice. Statewide, about $1 billion is owed in overdue fines and costs, Morse said. For Seminole where 40 percent of defendants don't pay their fines, the figure is $6.5 million.

"This is a national problem, it's not just Seminole," Morse said.

Several states are trying new collection tactics but, as far as Sloop and Morse know, their program is the first of its kind. Here's how it works:

Each time Sloop imposes a fine as punishment in his misdemeanor court - where cases range from thefts to assaults to drunken driving - he asks how long it will take the defendant to pay. As long as it's a reasonable amount of time, Sloop agrees.

On the due date, a notice is sent out. If that fails, a warrant is issued to jail the person from 10 to 90 days.

That usually does the trick, Morse said. If the person wants out, bail must be paid in cash. It is used to pay the fine.

In the past year, 1,866 notices were sent out, prompting 575 people to pay. Another 91 went to jail and 1,058 failed to show up for court and have warrants against them.

If people get away without paying their fines, Sloop said, the crimes go unpunished.

"It's a whole lot better than before, which was letting the fines accumulate. But even worse was the message to the community."

Sloop said he will continue to use the jail-threat program. He and Morse hope other judges will adopt the tactic.

"You're never going to collect all of it (court fines), but you have to be able to collect some of it," Morse said. "It goes right back into the community."