If you weren’t able to attend today’s conference, I wanted to put together a recap of the topics we covered and share some of my biggest takeaways. These aren’t intended to be official meeting minutes—just practical notes from my perspective that I hope will help other municipal court clerks.
If you missed the conference and need copies of any of today’s handouts, feel free to reach out to me at theclerksdesk@gmail.com, and I’ll be happy to share anything I have permission to distribute.
Registration & Welcome
The conference kicked off with registration from 8:00–9:00 a.m., followed by a welcome from MMCCA President Zane Elliott.
Office of the State Auditor – Mark Johnson
Mr. Mark Johnson opened the educational sessions with an update from the Office of the State Auditor.
A few items that stood out:
- Make sure your city’s website is ADA compliant. It may be worth reaching out to your city’s IT department or website administrator to see if your website meets current accessibility standards.
- We discussed several House Bills that became effective July 1, 2026.
- The Office of the State Auditor provided an excellent handout covering today’s topics.
If you were unable to attend or didn’t receive the handout, reach out to me and I’ll be happy to email you a copy.
Guest Speaker – Nick Bain
We also heard from Nick Bain, a candidate for Mississippi State Auditor.
One thing he said really stuck with me. (not quoting – just what I remembered)
Many new clerks inherit procedures simply because “that’s how they showed me” or “that’s how we’ve always done it.” His message was simple—don’t be afraid to ask questions. Reach out to the State Auditor’s Office, seek education early, identify the tools you need, and don’t wait until an audit to find out something has been done incorrectly.
That really reminded me why summer training is so valuable. Practical education like this helps you become a better clerk, run a more efficient office, and gives you confidence that you’re doing things correctly.
Criminal Information Center (CIC)
The Criminal Information Center (CIC) had an outstanding team in attendance today, including Lieutenant Jamie Flake with the CIC Outreach Team, Pam McAfee from the CIC Expungement Division, CIC Director Jason McElhenney, and Southern Outreach Officer Freddie Keel. It was great having representatives from multiple areas of CIC available to answer questions and interact directly with clerks from around the state.
Their presentation covered:
- How criminal histories are created.
- Arrest Tracking Numbers (ATNs).
- Court disposition reporting.
- AFIS.
- NIBRS.
- The crime statistics website.
- The Violent Persons File.
One statistic I found interesting was that Mississippi currently has 512 law enforcement agencies.
Criminal History & Disposition Reporting
One thing newer clerks often don’t realize is that criminal histories don’t automatically update themselves. (and many officers don’t know this either!!)
When an arrest is made and fingerprints are submitted—whether by Live Scan or traditional fingerprint cards—the arrest is entered into the Mississippi Criminal Information Center. Once your court disposes of that case, the court clerk is responsible by statute for reporting the disposition, regardless of what the disposition is.
I’ve linked another article here on The Clerk’s Desk that goes into disposition reporting in more detail.
We also learned about:
- AFIS
- NIBRS
Law enforcement agencies can use this information to identify traffic trends, dangerous intersections, speeding complaints, and other crime statistics to become more proactive within their jurisdictions.
The CIC Outreach Team
A couple of interesting facts:
- Mississippi’s Criminal History Depository was established in 1998.
- The CIC Outreach Team (formerly called the Compliance Team) was created in 2022 specifically to assist agencies with criminal history reporting compliance.
One piece of advice I absolutely loved:
If your law enforcement agency or jail isn’t providing your office with Arrest Tracking Numbers (ATNs), court disposition forms, or prosecutor disposition forms, don’t fight that battle yourself.
Reach out to the CIC Outreach Team.
That’s exactly why they exist.
Lieutenant Flake also mentioned that blank disposition forms are available through CIC. I also have a blank disposition form available here on The Clerk’s Desk, and I’ll link it below.
Blank Disposition Reporting Form
CIC Expungement Division – Pam McAfee
I think Ms. Pam could have spoken another hour and nobody would have complained.
She walked us through exactly what happens after an expungement order arrives at CIC.
The general workflow looks something like this:
- The order is received and processed when it arrives in the office.
- A staff member reviews the order and the petitioner’s criminal history to determine eligibility. If corrections are needed or the petitioner is not eligible, a Resolution Notice is issued.
- If everything is correct, another staff member removes the charge from the Mississippi Criminal History and forwards the information to the FBI so it can also be removed from the national criminal history database.
She provided us with an 18 Q&A handout for expungements, and I think it’s going to become a great reference document for all of us.
I’d love some feedback on this session from those who attended.
How helpful was the expungement session?
Was the Q&A handout helpful? You can comment on this post or send an email to theclerksdesk@gmail.com.
A few practical reminders
- DUI expungements should be mailed to both the CIC Expungement Division and Driver Services.
- One idea would be to keep pre-addressed envelopes in your office for both divisions to simplify processing.
- When you provide an expungement order to a defendant, encourage them to keep a copy for their personal records. The purpose of an expungement is to remove the record, so once records are lawfully purged or destroyed, your office may no longer have a copy available.
One excellent audience question involved someone claiming that a background check showed an arrest, but neither the court nor the arresting agency could locate a record.
The recommendation was to have the individual contact CIC directly. They may submit a written request or call the Department of Public Safety and select the expungement option for assistance.
Ms. Pam also provided direct phone numbers and email addresses for members of her team. If you need those contact numbers and weren’t able to attend today’s conference, feel free to reach out and I’ll be happy to share them.
Mississippi Department of Public Safety – Office of General Counsel
DPS General Counsel, Eric Brown, covered several topics today.
One of the biggest involved misdemeanor citations associated with felony cases. Every jurisdiction handles these situations a little differently, and that’s okay.
The important part is making sure your municipal court, police department, prosecutor, and district attorney communicate and decide what works best for your jurisdiction.
For example, your arresting officer may request that your municipal court hold misdemeanor citations pending the outcome of the associated felony case.
Depending on how often your county’s grand jury meets, those cases may take several months before reaching Circuit Court. Counties with only one or two grand juries each year may naturally move slower than counties meeting several times each year.
It was also discussed that defendants may plead guilty to misdemeanor charges that establish probable cause for a felony prosecution. If that occurs, make sure your District Attorney’s Office is aware of the guilty plea so everyone involved in the felony case is working from the same information.
DUI Expungements
We also discussed Mississippi Code Section 97-19-71(4).
Judges should grant a petition to expunge non-convictions involving DUI cases, including dismissals, not guilty findings, remands, nolle prosequi dispositions, and non-adjudications.
One important reminder, however: If the underlying traffic citations resulted in convictions, those convictions cannot be expunged.
For example, if a defendant pleads guilty to speeding but the DUI is dismissed, the speeding conviction remains but the dismissed DUI can be expunged.
One possible solution discussed was dismissing or remanding the associated traffic citations when appropriate so the entire arrest record is resolved consistently.
We also discussed the difference between a criminal history record and a driving record.
Those are two completely separate records.
eCite
Law enforcement agencies can use eCite reporting statistics to identify traffic trends, dangerous intersections, speeding complaints, and other enforcement priorities within their jurisdictions.
We also learned that Mississippi Code Section 63-9-21 authorizes misdemeanor affidavits to be submitted through eCite.
Remember:
Electronic citations and affidavits are automatically sworn.
The officer does not have to come to your office to swear to those citations after submitting them electronically.
Hardship Licenses
One update I wasn’t aware of until today involved hardship licenses.
Mississippi courts no longer issue hardship licenses.
Effective January 1, 2026, hardship approvals are issued directly through the Mississippi Department of Public Safety Driver Services Division.
Instead of receiving a driver’s license, the individual receives a Hardship Approval Card.
That card must be carried along with the individual’s driver permit. If stopped by law enforcement, both documents should be presented.
If your office or law enforcement agency needs to verify that a hardship approval is valid, you can contact Driver Services by email.
Additional information is also available on the Department of Public Safety website.
My Final Thoughts
Overall, Day One was packed with practical information that clerks can take back to their offices immediately. I learned several things myself, made some great new connections, and left with plenty of ideas that I plan to implement.
One thing that really stood out to me throughout the day was the willingness of the presenters to answer questions and make themselves available as resources. Whether it was the State Auditor’s Office, CIC, or the Department of Public Safety, everyone emphasized that they’d rather answer questions on the front end than clerks deal with problems later on. That’s exactly the kind of relationship we need to continue building between our local courts and our state agencies.
If you weren’t able to attend and need copies of any of today’s handouts, or if you have questions about any of the topics covered, feel free to reach out through The Clerk’s Desk. If I have permission to share the material, I’ll be happy to send it your way.
Now… on to Day Two!
If you attended the New Clerks Orientation during the afternoon of Day One, we’d love to hear from you. To answer a quick survey, please click HERE.
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