Got an old summons warrant? Brooklyn DA’s Bed-Stuy event Saturday can clear it
Brooklyn residents with a warrant tied to an unanswered criminal summons can resolve it Saturday, Oct. 3, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
On Saturday, Oct. 3, Brooklyn residents who have an open warrant because they never answered a criminal summons can have it cleared. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez will run the event between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The venue is Bridge Street AME Church, which sits on Stuyvesant Avenue.
Which Brooklyn summons warrants can be cleared
Missing the response deadline on a criminal summons leads to a criminal warrant. Gonzalez said the cases behind these warrants involve very minor conduct, such as remaining in a park after dark, walking a dog without a leash or smoking where it is not allowed.
The event has City Hall’s backing. In a statement, mayoral spokesperson Sam Raskin said old summons warrants can stand in the way of getting a job, securing housing or applying for citizenship, and can discourage people from dealing with law enforcement. Gonzalez made a similar point, saying such warrants can leave people reluctant to engage with police.
Quality-of-life tickets climb across NYC
Stepped-up NYPD enforcement of quality-of-life offenses has built a large backlog of these cases. Officers citywide wrote more than 220,000 tickets for low-level infractions, both civil and criminal, during the most recent fiscal year, according to public data. A City Hall report released in September put the increase over the prior year at 13%.
The NYPD offered a different picture of the current year. Department spokesperson Bradley Weekes said the count of criminal summonses written so far in 2026 is virtually unchanged from last year’s pace. Officers, he said, are responding to 311 calls about concerns raised by New Yorkers.
Gonzalez said he does not want to second-guess the tickets officers hand out. He is concerned, though, that they land mainly on people of color with low incomes, many of whom may lack the money to pay a fine. “I have always been concerned about the racial disparities in these tickets,” he said. He added that 85% of them go to people of color and that enforcement tends to focus on the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
Dawn Ryan, who runs the Legal Aid Society’s trial office in Brooklyn, said the need for an event like this raises serious questions about why so many summonses are issued to begin with.
Quick answers
When and where is the Brooklyn warrant-clearing event?
Saturday, Oct. 3, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., in Bedford-Stuyvesant at Bridge Street AME Church, which sits on Stuyvesant Avenue.
Which warrants can be cleared?
Warrants issued after someone did not answer a criminal summons for a low-level offense, such as being in a park after dark or walking a dog without a leash.
Why does an old summons warrant matter?
City Hall said such warrants can make it harder to get a job, find housing or apply for citizenship.
