Opinion Number

Dear Councilman Carter:

This office is in receipt of your request for an opinion of the Attorney General. Your questions, as I appreciate them, are as follows:

1. Does the New Orleans Police Department have discretion as relates to issuing citations in lieu of arrest for traffic and other municipal offenses?

2. Is an arrest required when an individual has an outstanding warrant for a non-violent offense or an attachment resulting from a traffic offense or can a citation or summons be issued?

In answering the first question it is necessary to distinguish between traffic offenses and other…