§ 153.054 Service and filing

When a police officer gives someone a ticket for a violation, the officer has to follow a specific process. The officer must give the actual summons (the citation itself) directly to the person who got the ticket. This tells the person what they're being cited for and lets them know they need to deal with it in court.

At the same time, the officer also has to send the complaint and a record of the case to the court. The complaint is the formal paperwork that explains the violation, and the abstract of court record is basically a summary document for the court's files. This makes sure the court has the same information as the person who got the ticket, so both sides are working from the same facts.

There are some exceptions to this rule. If the situation falls under certain other laws (like those dealing with specific traffic or licensing issues), the officer might follow different steps instead. But in most everyday cases, this rule is what tells officers how to properly hand out tickets and get the paperwork to court.