Pub. L. 90-226, tit. VII, sec. 701

Sec. 701. Section 10 of the Act of March 3, 1933 (D.C. Code, sec. 23–610), is amended by inserting “(a)” immediately after “Sec. 10.”, and by adding the following new subsections: “(b) An officer or member of the Metropolitan Police force who, in accordance with section 397 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to the District of Columbia, arrests without a warrant a person for committing a misdemeanor may, instead of taking him into custody, issue a citation requiring such person to appear before an official of the Metropolitan Police force designated under subsection (a) of this section to act as a clerk of the District of Columbia Court of General Sessions. “(c) Whenever a person is arrested without a warrant for committing a misdemeanor and is booked and processed pursuant to law, an official of the Metropolitan Police force designated under subsection (a) of this section to act as a clerk of the District of Columbia Court of General Sessions may issue a citation to him for an appearance in court or at some other designated place, and release him from custody. “(d) No citation may be issued under subsection (b) or (c) of this section unless the person authorized to issue the citation has reason to believe that the arrested person will not cause injury to persons or damage to property and that he will make an appearance in answer to the citation. “(e) Whoever willfully fails to appear as required in a citation, shall be fined not more than the maximum provided for the misdemeanor for which such citation was issued or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both. Prosecution under this subsection shall lie by the prosecuting officer responsible for prosecuting the offense for which the citation is issued.”