Florida County Sends Collectors After Fine Dodgers

Lee County in Florida is retiring their old warrant-and-arrest method of going after unpaid fines of less than $200. 

For one thing, the process of writing up and serving a warrant, not to mention arresting and housing scofflaws, ends up being entirely too costly for such small amounts.    For another, the county suffers no end of poor PR when, as when happened last fall with a pregnant woman and a $75 watering fine, a debtor is arrested and sent to jail.  Instead, the county has hit upon a more cost effective way of recouping these fines: hiring a collection agency.

Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson, a nationwide collection agency/law firm, will take on the burden of tracking down and collecting for the county.

"I support the effort of trying something new that can solve both problems — of collecting money and keeping down the jail population," Lee County Judge Radford Sturgis told the Southwest Florida New Press. "The threat of going to jail encourages people to pay. On the other hand, you can’t put everyone in jail for a minor offense."