How can we help ?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions that we receive at the Sheriff’s Office. You can go to the website listed below of the Arkansas Attorney General, Leslie Rutledge,and this site will have all the answers needed for questions concerning Landlord / Tenant rights.

Consumer alert rights and responsibilities for renters landlords

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The Independence County Sheriff’s Office does not issue protection or restraining orders. The Circuit Judges issues protection and restraining orders. You can get a Protection or Restraining Order by using a private attorney or you can contact the Independence County Circuit Clerk’s Office and they will assist you in this process. The Phone Number for the Independence County Circuit Clerk’s Office is (870)793-8833.

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Three Steps to Eviction

The plaintiff must serve the respondent with a handwritten notice giving them ample time to be off the property. They can be served with this either through certified mail or in person with a witness, so that the plaintiff has proof they did serve the respondent. We do not serve any paper that does not come from the court as of 05-01-98. (We do not give an opinion on what ample time is. By law, we cannot give legal advice. They can call an attorney.)

If they are not out within the time allowed in the notice, the plaintiff needs to get an attorney and go through the court system. This is necessary because it is not a criminal matter, it is a civil matter and a decision has to be made by the court. We will NOT get involved in any type of removal without a court order.

1. The attorney will issue a summons, complaint, and notice of intent to issue a writ of possession. The respondent has 20 days to file an answer to the complaint for lawsuit, but only has 5 days to file an answer to the notice of intent to issue a Writ of Possession. If they have not filed an answer to the notice within the five days, their attorney will go back to court and get the writ of possession. The summons, complaint, and notice can be served by a private process server, or by the Sheriff’s Office. If the plaintiff chooses the Sheriff’s Office we charge an $50.00 service fee.
2. Once the Writ of Possession is issued it has to be served by the Sheriff’s Office. We charge $50.00 to serve the Writ of Possession. The respondent will have 24 hours from the time they are served to be out of the property. If they are not out when the 24 hours is up we will contact the plaintiff. It is the plaintiff’s responsibility to have movers there; the respondent's things have to be moved to a public storage facility.
3. We are present during the move to keep the peace and inform the respondent that up to this point it has been a civil matter, but once the plaintiff is placed in possession of the property it would be a violation of a court order to come back onto the property and charges could be filed by the plaintiff with the Prosecutor’s Office.
4. We accept personal checks, cash, certified check, or money order.

This is considered a civil matter between you and your roommate, husband or wife. The Sheriff’s Office cannot get involved in these matters. All civil matters are handled through the court.

You may contact the court that issued the summons or subpoenas.

State law allows level two thru four offenders to be listed on sites like ours. A level two offender can only be listed if the offender is over 18 years of age and the victim was under 14 years of age. This means no level one offenders and only certain level two offenders can be listed on our site.

Also, a person, once convicted, goes through a state ordered assessment which attempts to determine the offenders like livelihood re-offending. To answer your question, there are five reasons the person you know may not be listed:

1. The person is a level one offender and can’t be listed.
2. The person is a level two offender that does not meet the criteria set by state law and can’t be listed.
3. The person was recently convicted and has not completed the state assessment that assigns them an offender level (assessments after conviction usually take approximately six months).
4. The person was convicted and was not incarcerated, or was on probation or parole at the time that the Arkansas Sex Offender Law was enacted.
5. The person was convicted in another state and under Arkansas law is not required to register as a Sex Offender in Arkansas.

You can Email us at contact@independencesheriff.org or you may call the Sheriff’s Office and speak to someone anonymously at 870-793-8838

Traffic accident reports can be obtained from the Sheriff’s Office located at 1750 Meyers Avenue in Batesville. There is a $10 charge to print reports. The Administrative office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00 A.M. to 4:30P.M.

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You should first call the phone number on the ticket and see how much the fine will be.

Once you have determined the amount of the fine you have two options: Come to court on the date listed as your court date on the ticket or mail the fine amount to the address listed on your ticket prior to the court date. Probation and other questions for the court should be directed to the District Court Clerk by calling 870-793-8817