Each year in late February and early March, dozens of law enforcement agencies and municipal courts in big cities and small towns across the state take to the airwaves and to the streets seeking out, apprehending and otherwise rounding up Texans who have ignored their unpaid speeding tickets and other minor infractions for too long. None are wanted for violent offenses like murder or robbery. The focus, instead, is on those with outstanding warrants for misdemeanor traffic, parking and city ordinance violations — going 80 miles per hour in a 70-m.p.h. zone, writing a bad check — who failed to resolve their ticket or case by paying a fine or appearing in court.

No other state holds an event quite like the weeklong Warrant Roundup, now in its sixth year. More than 260 agencies and courts are taking part in the roundup, which in most jurisdictions started last Saturday and ends March 4.

By the end of a typical Warrant Roundup, thousands of people will have been arrested and millions of dollars in fines and court fees will have been paid across the state. Last year, the Houston police arrested 4,110, and the city’s municipal courts collected $2.5 million. This year, Waco arrested 32 on Saturday, and San Antonio apprehended 39 on Monday. Abilene has collected $49,966 so far.

“If everyone gets a ticket and says to hell with it, that defeats the purpose,” said J. C. Mosier, the chief deputy for Harris County’s Constable Precinct One, which made 42 arrests on Saturday as part of the event. “Our files are full of traffic warrants and hot-check warrants. The only people that gripe are the ones getting arrested.”