00-014 Court Overtime Procedures

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

STATION ORDER

Cerritos Station

STATION ORDER NUMBER:  00-014                                             

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this order is to affix specific responsibility and policy at Cerritos Station for court appearances, the management of court overtime, subpoena control, and the duties of the court liaison officer and sergeant.

SCOPE OF ORDER:

All station personnel shall ensure they are managing their court overtime, acknowledging their subpoenas, and handling evidence appropriately.

ORDER:

RESPONSIBILITIES:

EM Watch Commander:

Will review the court list for the following day and make, or cause to be made, personal contact with anyone who has failed to acknowledge the receipt of a subpoena.

All Patrol Sergeants:

Sergeants shall review the content of all arrest reports to ensure that patrol deputies conduct their investigations and write reports to minimize the number of deputies that will be needed to testify in court.

Detectives:

Investigators shall coordinate case preparation with the District Attorney’s Office to ensure that only personnel essential to the case are subpoenaed.

Court Liaison Sergeant:

The Court Liaison Sergeant shall ensure that the subpoena system and resulting court overtime generated is effectively administered.  He/she will review the necessity of subpoenaed deputies to keep witnesses to a minimum and identify and correct any subpoena related problems.  He/she shall have the responsibility to supervise the court deputies and court liaison deputy, monitor courtroom testimony and provide feedback to deputies on their testimony.  He/she shall maintain a liaison with the District Attorney’s Office, judges, and defense attorneys.

Court Liaison Officer: 

The Court Liaison Officer will administer the subpoena system.  This employee will receive and process all incoming subpoenas.  He/she will place the subpoenas in the deputies’ mailbox with an acknowledgment slip, coordinate the “on call” procedure between the courts and deputies.  He/she will bring any problems or anticipated problems to the attention of the Court Liaison Sergeant.

Subpoenas received five days in advance of appearance will be accepted.  Subpoenas providing less than five days notice will be accepted only when the employee will be available for timely service.  If a subpoena which has been accepted cannot be served, the Court Liaison Officer will return it to the court with an explanation.

The Court Liaison Officer, on a daily basis, will leave a copy of the next day’s court list with the Watch Deputy and post a copy in the Briefing Room for review by interested personnel.

If notified that a deputy did not appear in court or if he/she is unable to contact someone who is on-call, the Court Liaison Officer will notify the Court Liaison Sergeant.

Subpoenaed Personnel: 

All personnel shall acknowledge the receipt of every subpoena.  Employees shall initial and date the acknowledgment slip and place it in the appropriate tray of the court liaison officer.

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Upon arrival at court, personnel will time stamp the back of the subpoena.  Their overtime slip will indicate the starting time and will not be before the starting time on the subpoena.  They will likewise time stamp out at the end of their appearance.  Employees shall make sure that the time stamp is legible on their subpoena.

Except in unusual cases, the initials of a Deputy District Attorney next to a starting or ending time is NOT acceptable in lieu of a time stamp.  All personnel shall report to court in proper attire and on time.   Upon arrival, personnel must make contact with the Deputy District Attorney handling their case.  If the handling Deputy District Attorney is not known, personnel must check in with the court clerk of the assigned court.

OVERTIME PROCEDURES:

Personnel will receive only ONE HOUR of travel time per day, regardless of the number of courts in which they are required to appear.  If personnel are required to report to court directly from duty, or report to duty directly from court, they will receive 1/2 HOUR OF TRAVEL TIME.

Personnel will receive no less than TWO HOURS of overtime per court appearance unless the court appearance overlaps their normal duty hours.  This time includes travel time and evidence pick-up if the actual time in court is less than thirty minutes.

All overtime slips will reflect the time spent in court, as indicated by the time stamped on the back of the subpoena, in the “hours worked” section of the overtime slip.  Travel time will be indicated separately in the comments area and computed in the total hours for pay.  The comments area will also reflect the time deducted for lunch (one hour) and 1/2 hour for evidence pick-up, if applicable.  The comments area will also list the name of the court, the division, defendant’s name, and the charge.  The court case number shall be listed in the “Court/URN Number” area of the overtime slip.

Personnel shall staple the time stamped subpoena to the overtime slip when submitting for overtime.

Personnel shall submit court overtime slips within (3) days of working the overtime.  Deputies may leave the overtime slip with the Court Liaison Officer, where applicable, who will forward it to the Cerritos Station Timekeeper the following business day.

Court overtime conditions not covered in this order should be discussed with the Court Liaison Sergeant.

ON-CALL PROCEDURES:

To be eligible for paid on-call time, personnel must:

• Be personally available to receive telephone calls (answering machines are not acceptable, however, pagers are acceptable)
• Maintain a response time of one hour or lessRemain at their residence or provide the Court Liaison Employee a telephone number where they may be contacted during the hours they are on-call.

             a)       Bellflower Court                 1030-1230 hours

             b)       Compton Court                 0830-1200 hours

             c)       Norwalk Superior Court      1030-1230 hours (some cases until 1430)

** On call hours subject to change**

The Court Liaison Officer will contact the District Attorney’s Office by 1130 hours to determine the status of on-call cases and then advise any personnel who will remain on call of their status.

Personnel advised in court that their case is being trailed and are placed on-call by the court for any reason must notify the Court Liaison Officer immediately, providing him/her with the required on-call information.

Personnel shall prepare on-call overtime slips utilizing red ink in duplicate, indicating the starting time, court case number, court and defendant.  The overtime slip shall then be placed in the court overtime tray located in the station armory for approval by the Court Liaison Sergeant.

It is often obvious to the subpoenaed individual that they are not needed to testify.  Therefore, all personnel are encouraged to contact the Deputy District Attorney handling the case, requesting that he/she be removed from “be in court” to “on-call” status.  If on-call status is approved, the Court Liaison Officer must be notified of the change in status and provided the name of the Deputy District Attorney authorizing the change.

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