Background

Warrants are an integral part of the criminal justice system which ensure persons accused of and convicted of crimes are brought before the courts. 
Warrants are issued by the courts for a variety of reasons and generally fall into two categories, pre-conviction warrants and post-conviction warrants.  

The following table provides additional information on the type of warrants issued; however, it should be noted that this is not a complete list of all warrant types.

Pre-Conviction Warrants 

Initiating Warrant: Inability to trace an individual but there is a requirement to commence a prosecution.  This includes where an address has been provided but it has not been possible to serve documentation successfully.  

Failure To Appear Warrant: Where it can be established that an individual was aware of a requirement to attend a court diet yet failed to appear.

Post-Conviction Warrants

Fines Enquiry Warrant: Where an individual has been fined in response to the commission of an offence but has failed to pay this fine.   

All warrants that are allocated to Police Scotland for execution will fall within one of three categories: category A, B or C.  These categories are aligned with threat and risk associated only with the offence for which the warrant is granted, with shorter timescales for the execution of those warrants that are assessed as having a greater risk.  The warrants are already categorised by COPFS or SCTS, depending on the type of warrant, when received by Police Scotland. 

Category A warrants are associated with greater threat and risk and include petition and high court warrants.  Category B warrants include crimes involving weapons, domestic offending and serious road traffic offences which are not considered to be a category A warrant. Category C warrants are all other warrant types.