Further Statement of General Policies(1) The law enforcement officers are encouraged to use citations in those misdemeanor cases in which they feel confident that the defendant will appear in court on the days they are due to appear.(2) The clerks and magistrates are encouraged to use the criminal summons instead of warrants in non-support, certain worthless check, failure to return rental property, and other appropriate misdemeanor cases. G.S. 15A-303.(3) The arresting officer has no authority to fix the amount of the bond, but he should furnish any information he has available to him to assist the judicial official in determining the amount of the bond. In setting the amount of bond, the clerk or magistrate acts as an independent judicial official who has the duty to the defendant to see that the bond is not excessive.(4) When brought before a magistrate to set conditions of release, if an attorney representing the Defendant is present that attorney shall not be barred from accompanying the Defendant before the magistrate when the conditions of release are being set and shall be given an opportunity to be heard on the Defendant's behalf as to the conditions of release. This shall be done in such a manner as to not compromise the security of the operation of the Magistrate's Office.(5) When there are several charges against one defendant, one bond may be set for all charges. Such bond may be set as an aggregate amount of the appropriate bond amounts for all charges or at the level appropriate to the highest charge for which bond is being set, in the discretion of the judicial official setting the bond.Adopted September 25, 2023, effective 10/1/2023.