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Dallas County Web site displays most wanted ticket offenders

12:00 AM CDT on Friday, June 5, 2009

By KEVIN KRAUSE / The Dallas Morning News
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Joel Israel Green is Dallas County's most wanted ticket-dodger.

And he's now getting a moment of fame – or rather infamy – on one of the county's Web sites.

Green, 28, of DeSoto tops the county's list of scofflaws, owing $21,596.90 in unpaid fines and fees. Green's jail mug shot is displayed prominently on the county's most wanted site that ranks the 50 worst offenders.

Dallas County has a well-known problem collecting delinquent fines. About $200 million is owed.

So it set up a Web site called Dallas County Wanted – http://www.dallascounty.org/dcwantedsearch – where users can find comprehensive information about ticket violators, and even look up their own traffic delinquencies.

The county also wants to use driver's license photos to shame other scofflaws (who don't already have jail mugs) into paying. However, the state isn't sure it can provide the photos for that purpose.

Last month, Lamar Beckworth, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, wrote Attorney General Greg Abbott, asking him to find whether posting such photos violates state and federal law.

Apparently there is a state law saying driver's license photos can only be released to police or criminal justice agencies for "an official purpose."

"Once it has received the driver license photographs, Dallas County has indicated that it believes it has the discretion to disclose this information in any manner, including a public Web site," Beckworth said.

For now, the mugs shots remain. The site says any information about those on the wanted list should be given to the Dallas County sheriff's office or local police.