Police execute more than 50 warrants in one day

The Royal Gibraltar Police executed 51 warrants of arrest in the space of just 24 hours including the arrest of one man with 38 warrants to his name.

Taking to social media, the Commissioner of Police Ian McGrail said: “During the last 24 hours a total of 51 warrants of arrest issued by the courts for either failing to appear in court or non-payment of fines have been executed.”

He added that six people were arrested in respect of those warrants with one person accounting for 38 of those warrants.

The RGP is charged with executing all arrest warrants issued by Gibraltar’s courts in accordance with the instructions on the warrant.

The vast majority of these warrants are in respect of persons who have failed to appear in court or who have failed to make payment to the courts in respect of fines, maintenance payments and monetary compensations to victims imposed by the courts.

These instructions direct police to arrest the subject with a view to ensuring the appearance of the individual before the court.

This is achieved by either bailing them out in their own recognizance of a stipulated sum of money, bailing them out with a surety of a stipulated sum of money, bailing them out on payment of a cash deposit, bailing them out on payment of a cash surety or detaining them in police custody until the next available Court sitting.

In the event of sureties, cash deposits or cash sureties that cannot be met the subject of the warrant will remain in Police Custody until the next available court date or remanded in Prison, dependant on the instructions contained in the Warrant.

Ensuring the subject makes payment of a stipulated sum in respect of unpaid fines, unpaid maintenance payments, compensation amounts etc.

Failure to make such payments usually incurs a default period of imprisonment.