# Can the county jail send me a bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-county-jail-send-me-a-bill/570574 "2011-02-07T20:53:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-county-jail-send-me-a-bill/570574/21 "2011-02-08T23:22:16Z")
> [@Al\_Bundy](#): > > Anyone can report bad credit/non payment to the credit agencies. You can post a one page rebuttal to any report. > > That’s how I would handle it. mise-en-scene: Loan processing center, fluorescent bulb a-glow. At the desk sits Mr. Hand, a tired, frumpy, balding 40-something loan underwriter for Company X. Clearly overworked, Mr. Hand sits at his vintage tableau with an almond colored telephone on the edge of the desk. Mr. Hand is poring over today’s batch of credit applications. Mr. Hand stops, and looks at this latest application for the 35 seconds he has to make his assessment. "Hmm, credit looks good. Except for this one bill that hasn’t been paid. " Mr. Hand notes the consumer information statement appended to the back of the applicant’s credit report. “Oh, who gives a shit about this. It’s totally biased hearsay that tenders no proof of the impropriety of the debt, and I figured if it really is a bunk debt, applicant would have been a bit more diligent in getting it removed. Ok. Must be some deadbeat. Denied” ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-county-jail-send-me-a-bill/570574/22 "2011-02-08T23:32:40Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > No, the downtown Marriott can not. They do not have any legal authority to arrest people. cops have legal authority to properly arrest people. if you’re improperly detained or the cops are keeping you detained without either charging you, releasing you, or getting you to a bail hearing with great haste, then they may as well be the Marriott. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-county-jail-send-me-a-bill/570574/23 "2011-02-08T23:40:08Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > No, the downtown Marriott can not. They do not have any legal authority to arrest people. > > However, the sheriff & local police DO have that authority – they were given that authority by the citizens of this country, who passed laws and then appointed people to enforce them. If they do so improperly, then they ca be sued for ‘false arrest’. (As I suggested in my previous post.) The issue isn’t whether the police have the legal authority to detain you; it’s whether they have the legal & constitutional authority to _charge you_ (thus requiring you to surrender some your property) for that detention without first having to _prove in a court of law_that you actually did anything illegal. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-county-jail-send-me-a-bill/570574/24 "2011-02-11T00:55:06Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > The issue isn’t whether the police have the legal authority to detain you; it’s whether they have the legal & constitutional authority to _charge you_ (thus requiring you to surrender some your property) for that detention without first having to _prove in a court of law_that you actually did anything illegal. What if you reach for your wallet and they fire at you? Assuming you survive, should you pay for cost of ammunition plus a cleaning of the pistol? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-county-jail-send-me-a-bill/570574.md?page=1)