Residents have until March 6 to take care of outstanding warrants for traffic, parking and other violations, or risk an embarrassing scene at their home or office.

That’s the message from participating jurisdictions in this year’s fourth annual Great Texas Warrant Roundup.

More than 250 city, county, constable and justice of the peace jurisdictions in Texas — including the cities of Katy, Missouri City, Rosenberg, Fulshear and Stafford — are participating in the roundup this year.

Those jurisdictions recently mailed hundreds of thousands of notices to individuals statewide.

“Affected persons are urged to contact the appropriate jurisdiction or jurisdictions during the next two weeks to dispose of their cases voluntarily to avoid the inconvenience and embarrassment of arrest at home or work in front of family, friends or co-workers,” said Austin Municipal Court Clerk Rebecca Stark, who is coordinating the statewide effort.

People are paying their fines

Cathy Haney, Missouri City’s court administrator, said she’s already noticed an increase in fines being paid since the city’s collection agency began sending out notices Feb. 19 for 7,000 outstanding warrants.

The city also has message boards at key entrances to the city, announcing the roundup and encouraging people to contact the Municipal Court.

“Because it is statewide, this warrant roundup has just been amazing for defendants all across Texas,” Haney said. “When they hear ‘statewide warrant roundup,’ they know that people are out looking for them. They hear the publicity, they get the letter from the collection agency, and they say, ‘I need to get this taken care of.’ ”

While she hopes defendants will come in earlier, Haney said the court in her city will schedule extra hours after March 6 to handle an expected increase in cases.

What should you do?

Individuals with outstanding warrants are encouraged to contact the jurisdiction issuing their warrant for detailed information on how and where to pay. Contacts for participating Fort Bend County and Katy area agencies include:

• Chief Rodney Pentecost, Fort Bend County, Precinct 2, 281-403-8022

• Chief Scott Head, Fulshear Police Department, 281-346-2202

• Gwendolyn Goins, Houston Municipal Court, 713-247-4114

• Elaine Brown, Katy Municipal Court, 281-391-4823

• Cathy Haney, Missouri City Municipal Court, 281-403-8669

• Sgt. Richard Hooper, Rosenberg Police Department, 832-595-3795

• Nicole Nguyen, Stafford Municipal Court, 281-261-3930