Missouri City may alter its enforcement of certain city codes after police and city staff asked City Council to consider whether some violations should still be cited directly to municipal court on Aug. 1. While some code violations merit a warning or a gradual fine before offenders are summoned to appear in court, other violations are referred directly to the court. Such violations include junked vehicles, parking on grass, dirty swimming pools, pool fences, and high grass and weeds, according to meeting documents. Missouri City Police Capt. Paul Poulton said that in more than 40 percent of cases, people do not show up to court for such violations. “The way they’re cited to court, there’s no information that [allows for] a warrant be issued for the individual that was cited to court,” he said. Violations cited directly to court are mailed to the offending residence, rather than being delivered to the individual directly for a signature or proof of identity. City staff said that without identifiers, the court cannot follow up with violators who fail to appear. Identifiers are anything used to determine the identity of the person receiving the citation, such as a driver’s license or other photo I.D. Poulton recommended giving code enforcement officers the option to use a more gradual punitive measure, such as a warning or incremental fines. He said a reduced penalty could boost compliance with the code. “I think if we try to gain compliance by educating them and warning some of them, I think—my feeling is we will get more compliance,” he said. From Jan. 1 to June 30, 2,778 code violation cases were opened in Missouri City. Of those cases, Poulton said, 571 were for violations cited directly to the court. The council did not make any decisions regarding the process for enforcing city code or handling violations. Missouri City Municipal Court Judge Debra Sinclair-Champagne warned council members about issuing warrants for code violators who fail to appear in court. “You have to be very careful when you are going to issue something, as I said, that will have someone possibly lose their liberty,” Sinclair-Champagne said.