Police in Alabama have been met with outrage after arresting an elderly woman for her failure to pay a trash bill. Martha Louis Menefield, 82, was jailed Sunday before being released on bond, Mike Reynolds, the chief of the Valley Police Department, said in a press release this week. Residents reacted to news of Menefield’s arrest by calling police “shameful” and “heartless” in comments on the city’s official Facebook page. Reynolds said city authorities had attempted to contact Menefield numerous times over her failure to pay her trash bill for three months and when that didn’t work, she was given a notice to appear in court. But after she failed to appear, authorities issued a warrant. “While our officers can use their discretionary judgment on certain matters, the enforcement of an arrest warrant issued by the court and signed by a magistrate, is not one of them,” Reynolds wrote, adding that Menefield “was treated respectfully” by officers.
