(A) Procedure. If a police officer observes facts which he or she believes constitute a violation of the traffic ordinances of this town, committed by a resident thereof, in lieu of arresting such person, he or she may take his or her name, address, operator’s license number, the registered license number of the motor vehicle involved, and any other pertinent and necessary information, and may issue to him or her, in writing in form prescribed by the Mayor or his or her duly designated delegate, a traffic citation embracing the above information and further stating the traffic violation alleged to have occurred, and notifying him or her to answer to the charge against him or her in the Court at a time, not sooner than five days thereafter, specified in the citation.
(1) The officer, upon receiving the written promise of the alleged violator, endorsed on the citation, to answer as specified, shall release said person from custody.
(2) If the person to whom a citation is issued fails to answer as prescribed in the citation, a complaint shall be filed and the case shall be prosecuted as otherwise provided in this chapter.
(B) Nonresident.
(1) If the alleged traffic violation is committed by a nonresident of this town, the police officer shall take him or her into custody under arrest.
(2) The arrested person either:
(a) Shall be taken immediately before the Judge for further proceedings according to law; or
(b) Shall have bail fixed for his or her release in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
(3) Upon providing bail as fixed, and upon giving his or her written promise to appear upon a day certain, as provided in division (A) of this section, he or she shall be released from custody.
(C) Parking.
(1) If the alleged offense be a violation of an ordinance restricting or regulating the parking of vehicles, including any regulations issued under such an ordinance, and the operator be not present, the police officer shall place on the vehicle, at a place reasonably likely to come to the notice of the operator, a citation conforming substantially to that prescribed in division (A) of this section, with such variation as the circumstances require.
(2) The operator of the vehicle shall be under the same obligation to respond to the citation as if it had been issued to him or her personally under division (A) of this section.
(Prior Code, § 1-9-17)