THE SUMMONS SERVICE...

There are varies types of services to be completed that any Law Enforcement Officer will face multiple times throughout their careers working in the field, we have discussed a few already and will be covering another one during this discussion. So far I have explored the Extradition and Warrant Service processes when it comes to Law enforcement. Therefore, this discussion will be centered on processing a Summons Service from within a jurisdiction and at the request of an outside agency.

A Summons is a legal document issued by the Court commanding a person to appear in a specific court at a specific time and on a specific date. LEOs deal with these quite often, specifically Deputy Sheriffs because they have the authority to serve said Summons or Subpoenas issued on the behalf of the court.

A Summons service differs from a Warrant service because upon located the person said Summons was issued on they don’t go to jail, they are just commanded to be present in accordance with the Summons issued. If a Summons is issued within the jurisdiction of the local Law enforcement agency, it can be services without issues, if the person resides outside of the jurisdiction of said local Law enforcement agency it cannot be served by that agency. 

When this is the case, there is a simple solution; the Summons and all the documentation attached to it are sent from the local Law enforcement agency to the agency that is authorize to serve said Summons within the jurisdiction where the subject that needs to be served resides.

Upon service, the Summons is then returned to the court, the court documents that the person was served and are required to be present in court in accordance with the Summons issued. 

When the Summons service was completed by an additional agency, that agency faxes copies of the Summons to the local Law enforcement agency where the Summons originated from, then mail the originals as well so that they can be returned to the court that issued the Summons.

It seems like it is a lot, but in practice it is a smooth process that all LEOs operating in the field have knowledge and experience with. Summons services are common in Law enforcement, they normally aren’t high risk activities, but they do require the same level of Officer Safety considerations as any other all call for service. That’s about it when it comes to Summons Services…

The Summons Service…