Magistrates' Court is still looking to recoup some $1.4 million in outstanding fines and have pointed the finger at Police for failing to execute outstanding warrants on about ten percent of the population.

Tracy Kelley, the court's administrative officer, said there were just under 7,000 outstanding warrants - a figure he said has remained stagnant for several months.

And Mr. Kelley suggested that more pressure needed to be put on Police to apprehend those still walking around free and clear.

“We are not happy with the numbers,” he said, “and that's still far too many for such a small Island. Initially we felt like we were getting somewhere, but the numbers are indicating that progress is moving slower than we thought.”

In September and October, thousands of locals were given a chance to avoid being arrested for outstanding warrants with the extension of a Police amnesty programme.

The initiative, called Operation Tri-mate, allowed residents to call a hotline to make arrangements to settle their warrants without any additional penalties.

According to Police media spokesman Dwayne Caines, “roughly five percent” or about 350 people took advantage of the programme - out of a total of 7,000.

And Mr. Kelley said that it appeared the programme had “failed miserably” with the lacklustre response from the public.

However, Mr. Caines said that the service hoped to implement stricter initiatives in the New Year that would cut the figure of warrants in half.

“Presently the issue is under review,” Mr. Caines said.

“A new initiative will be identified in the near future to address this problem.”

The problems with outstanding warrants are not new.

In 1997 Mr. Kelley said there was more than $1 million outstanding in unpaid fines.

And last year, when Assistant justice Archie Warner became Senior Magistrate, he promised to get tough on people who failed to pay on time.

He estimated that in one in five court cases, defendants did not pay on time.

He said 100 warrants a day were being issued by Magistrates.

At that point there were 10, 000 warrants outstanding.