OCEAN SPRINGS, MS (GC WIRE) — A sworn response to a federal court subpoena contains shocking admissions that confirm what GC Wire has been reporting for more than a year about the controversial Securix enforcement program in Ocean Springs.
The filing confirms that traffic tickets sent through the program had no judicial oversight and there were no consequences if a recipient were to discard the citation, despite threats by police officers of license suspension and heavy court fines.
In the document, attorneys representing the City of Ocean Springs state the city has “no knowledge of Securix issuing tickets,” keeps no records identifying who received them, and performed “None” of the actions associated with the diversion program used to collect nearly a million dollars from motorists traveling in Ocean Springs.
GC Wire previously reported that police officers paid directly by the private company had no legal authority to make the threatening ultimatum of paying a $300 fee to their employers or be subject to harsh consequences. The city’s court filing now confirms those reports.
The admissions appear in the city’s formal response to a subpoena issued in the federal case Amy Divine, et al. v. Securix, LLC, litigation centered on the automated insurance enforcement system that operated in Ocean Springs for two years.
An Ironic Response
The document carries an irony that is difficult to ignore.
The subpoena answers claiming the city had no knowledge of Securix tickets were prepared by attorneys from the law firm Wilkinson, Williams, Bosio & Sessoms, the same firm that served as the official city attorney’s office for Ocean Springs during the creation and operation of the program.
That firm includes Robert Wilkinson, who presided over Ocean Springs Board of Aldermen meetings as City Attorney while the Securix system was implemented and expanded. Records and emails previously reported by GC Wire show Wilkinson was directly involved in promoting and operating the program. Yet the subpoena response prepared by his firm states that the City of Ocean Springs has no knowledge of the tickets issued through the system.
The filing also refutes claims Wilkinson previously made to a state oversight agency stating he had recused himself from providing the city legal services related to the Securix program.
‘Unknown. The City Has No Knowledge’
One of the most striking answers in the subpoena filing appears in response to a basic question about the Securix system.
Question:
How many tickets did Securix issue for the City of Ocean Springs?
City’s Response:
“Unknown. The City has no knowledge of Securix issuing tickets.”
That admission stands in stark contrast to years of public statements describing the program as a municipal law-enforcement effort targeting uninsured motorists.
What Mississippi Law Requires
Under Mississippi law, traffic citations are criminal charging documents and must follow strict procedures.
Citations mailed to residents were disguised as an actual “Mississippi Uniform Traffic Ticket,” but followed none of the rules prescribed by the law for such documents.
Mississippi Code 63-9-21 (MUTT Law) requires that a traffic citation be issued by a law enforcement officer and supported by a sworn affidavit before the municipal court clerk. Until that affidavit is sworn, the citation does not become a formal criminal charge.
The city’s subpoena response acknowledges that officers reviewing Securix citations did not sign sworn affidavits unless the case was presented to the municipal court clerk, meaning the more than 10,000 citations mailed to Ocean Springs motorists were never filed with the court system and never converted into sworn criminal complaints, despite telling recipients they were.
Citations and follow-up letters sent by Chief of Police Mark Dunston told recipients they had been charged with a misdemeanor crime and warned that failure to pay the $300 fee could result in license suspension and high court fees – penalties only the court could impose.
Along with the officers signing the citations, Dunston was also on the Securix payroll, while simultaneously overseeing the program in his role as police chief.
Tickets sent to motorists offered two options: pay the $300 fee or appear in court. The citations listed a court date with a “summons” to appear on a specific date. But if a recipient were to appear, they were told they were not on the docket and directed to meet with a Securix employee. That employee called the meeting an “options arraignment.” It was a faux court session held in the lobby of the Ocean Springs Municipal Court.
Emails and internal communications previously reported by GC Wire show that Securix executives repeatedly warned the Mississippi management team — Robert Wilkinson, his son who served as Director of Operations, and Josh Gregory — that the Ocean Springs program was being operated in direct conflict with both the company’s contract with the city and with state law.
Only 23 Cases Filed
The subpoena response admits another critical detail about due process.
More than 10,000 citations were mailed to Ocean Springs motorists, yet the city’s attorneys told the court only 23 of those citations were ever prosecuted in the Ocean Springs Municipal Court.
The same filing confirms that the City of Ocean Springs received $468,681.13 connected to the Securix program. That figure represents 50 percent of the fees collected in the city’s program. The other half went to the operators.
Previously obtained records show the automated system generated 10,481 citations during its two-year operation.
The disparity between the number of citations issued and the number of cases filed in court suggests that the overwhelming majority of recipients never appeared before a judge.
Instead, motorists were directed to resolve the matter by paying a $300 diversion fee.
The Diversion Program
The subpoena response also addressed the city’s role in the diversion program used to collect those payments.
Question:
What actions does the City of Ocean Springs perform in the Securix diversion program?
City’s Response:
“None.”
Diversion programs involving criminal offenses are normally administered by prosecutors or courts and involve defined legal procedures.
By stating that the city performed no actions within the diversion program, the response adds another layer of proof the process used to collect payments from motorists operated outside the city’s municipal court system.
A System With No Records
The subpoena response further states that the city does not maintain records identifying the recipients of the citations.
According to the filing, if a motorist entered the diversion program the citation would be dismissed and never presented to the municipal court clerk, meaning the case would not appear in municipal court records.
The city does not explain why the remaining 10,458 citations were never filed in court as prescribed by Mississippi law.
Why the Admissions Matter
The subpoena response is now part of the federal court record in ongoing litigation involving the Securix program and can be referred to in future cases, whether civil or criminal.
A federal judge is currently holding the city’s $468,681.13 share in the court registry while legal disputes over the money continue.
The city’s own subpoena response now acknowledges that it has no knowledge of the tickets issued through the system, keeps no records identifying who received them, and performed no role in the diversion program used to collect payments.
Payroll and public records previously obtained by GC Wire verified the police officers issuing the citations were not paid by the city of Ocean Springs, but rather a private company.
The admissions raise fundamental questions about how the enforcement system actually operated.
If the city did not issue the tickets, did not track them, and did not administer the diversion program used to collect payments, the document leaves one central question unanswered:
Who authorized running a shadow law enforcement and court system that issued thousands of citations and collected nearly a million dollars from motorists in the name of the City of Ocean Springs?
She was correct, Securix never issued a citation which is why she had no knowledge of that. Every citation was issued by the city but a vast number were illegal. Securix knew about selective enforcement and constantly issued warnings only to be told by Wilkinson that he was right and as City Attorney his word was final, (and yes…we have those emails). When later it was discovered that DPPA laws were violated by them elsewhere, (and we have learned also in Ocean Springs), and as they refused to stop after many warnings, we took massive financial losses and turned them in. DPPA crimes are just that …. crimes and those doing that while elitist, rich and connected are only common criminals who think the law does not apply to them. Please investigate why the City of Ocean Springs later embraced more pain and according to their attorney in court documents, (but unknown to Securix), signed with Securix Mississippi to reinstall. Was that just more of Wilkinson’s “off the record” deals or did the city actually know?