Traffic Enforcement

This small village is tucked into the far north of Orange County on the border with Ulster County.  No major highways pass through the town and traffic enforcement is largely handled by local police officers with some occasional enforcement by NYS Police and the Orange County Sheriff's Dept. 

Traffic Court

The village justice has "traffic calendars" which are devoted to adjudicating traffic tickets. The NYS Police are prohibited from negotiating plea bargains on traffic violations, however there is a "special prosecutor" as there is most other Orange County jurisdictions.  Local police officers prosecute their own tickets and are, generally, open to reasonable plea bargains.  95% of tickets written by local officers are resolved through plea bargains.  Most of the officers are reasonable to deal with and the judge will usually go along with whatever disposition they propose.  However, if no disposition is reached traffic trials are handled very fairly by one of the best local justices in the Hudson Valley.

This court can move very slowly and traffic court sessions can last 1-3 hours. Attorneys are permitted to appear without their clients being present for traffic court.

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For more information about speeding and other traffic offenses, click here

To read some Frequently Asked Traffic Law questions, click here.

For information about having the Law Office of Glenn Magnell defend your speeding ticket or DWI charge, click here.

Criminal Law Enforcement and Prosecutions

All criminal prosecutions are handled by the Orange County District Attorney's Office.  The DA's office takes a very hard line on DWI prosecutions. In 2009 there were more than 1800 alcohol related driving arrests for impaired or intoxicated driving (DWI, DWAI, DWAI-D) in Orange County. Both the NYS Police and the Walden Village Police made numerous arrests. Most arrests occurred after dark with many taking place after midnight. Police officers assume that many driver's who are out after midnight have consumed alcohol and or drugs. As a result they are looking for any lawful reason to pull drivers over in order to investigate possible DWI incidents. Alcohol checkpoints have been infrequently established by the a combined task force of NYS Police and Walden Village police or Orange County Sheriff's Deputies.  All of these offenses are "criminal" violations of the law and, as a result are prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney's office.  One of the local police officers is very active in DWI enforcement.

Other typical criminal cases heard in Walden Village Court are petty larceny, 3rd degree assault, harrassment and drug possession.  Misdemeanors remain the jurisdiction of the Village court, while felonies are transferred to the Orange County Court if there is a felony indictment by the Grand Jury.  Criminal court moves along fairly quickly, but can be very busy, expect 2+ hours in court.

For more information about DWI, click here.

To read some Frequently Asked Questions about DWI, click here.

For information about having the Law Office of Glenn Magnell represent you on yourticket or DWI charge,, click here.