005 - COURT LIAISON PLAN

LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT

  DETECTIVE DIVISION    

 

 SPECIAL VICTIMS BUREAU

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bureau Order No:	0005
Subject:	COURT LIAISON PLAN

 

Effective Date

Jan. 2023

Last Date Reviewed

Jan. 2023

Last Date Revised

Jan. 2023

 

PURPOSE:

 

To provide Special Victims Bureau (SVB) personnel with court liaison guidelines.

 

POLICY:

 

SUBPOENAS – ELECTRONIC SYSTEM

 

The SVB’s Court Liaison Coordinator maintains a computer record of all subpoenas received.  The Court Liaison Coordinator performs the following functions in the Electronic Subpoena Tracking System:

 

1.         Receives email subpoena notification along with case assigned detective from the District Attorney’s Office. 

 

2.         Monitors the Electronic Subpoena Tracking System to confirm detectives                           acknowledges the E-subpoena in the system. 

 

3.         Coordinator reviews E-Subpoena system daily and emails detective and their sergeant of any outstanding, unacknowledged subpoenas in the system.

 

4.         Coordinator sends out second notification within 2-3 days of first notification to detective and sergeant if necessary.

 

5.         Coordinator notifies Operations Lieutenant of all outstanding subpoenas older than 30 days.

 

 

 

SUBPOENAS – MAIL

 

The Special Victims Bureau’s Court Liaison Coordinator tracks all mailed

subpoenas for witness in a yearly spreadsheet in the FCB Pro. Staff folder under

“Subpoena.”  The coordinator also performs the following functions.

 

1.         Coordinator provides case detective with the original subpoena to be served to victim and/or witnesses.  Original subpoena is placed in detective’s mail box.

 

2.         Coordinator files copy of subpoena in “Subpoena” folder by month and updates the spreadsheet with detective’s name, case number and defendant’s name.

 

The Investigating Officer is responsible to do the following:

 

1.         Contact the District Attorney’s Office to determine on-call status for subpoenas that fall on an RDO, and notify their team sergeant of the results.

 

            Note:  If on-call status is extended District Attorney will notify Court Liaison Coordinator who emails investigating officer with the updated information.

 

1. 2. Personnel shall respond to a must appear subpoena or seek permission to be placed on-call through the District Attorney’s Office.  Deputies placed on-call shall be available to receive telephone calls, maintain a response time of one hour or less.  Overtime shall be compensated in accordance with guidelines contained in the Manual of Policy and Procedures, Section 5-07/270.05.

 

OVERTIME MANAGEMENT

 

Personnel who receive a subpoena for an appearance on a regular day off shall notify their supervisor, who will attempt to work out an adjustment schedule, if practical and feasible, to avoid an unnecessary expenditure of overtime.  Personnel shall attempt to go on-call when possible.  Personnel are reminded that when they go to court they must clock in and out to account for their court hours utilizing Sheriff’s facility, District Attorney’s Office, etc.

 

COURTROOM DEMEANOR

 

Courtroom demeanor, including the quality of testimony given and the professional relationships developed by personnel assigned to the Special Victims Bureau with other professionals, including court officials, the District Attorney's Office, and others, has long been a priority of this bureau.  Courtroom demeanor and the manner in which testimony is presented in court is a subject which is taught to investigators during their initial indoctrination training.  Departmentally produced video training tapes concerning courtroom testimony are used during ongoing, in-service training.  This training is important to instill professionalism during court proceedings.

 

DRESS CODE

 

SVB maintains a strict dress code.  Personnel appearing in court are required to wear business attire at all times.  A deputy shall always be dressed in business attire reflective of a professional law enforcement officer when appearing in court.

 

MONITORING OF PERFORMANCE

 

Each supervisor shall personally monitor the court room demeanor and testimony of one detective per quarter, and make specific comments on this performance dimension in the yearly performance evaluation.

 

Performance audits by SVB supervisors include making contact with judges, court personnel, deputy district attorneys, personnel from the Department of Children's Services, adult rape centers, and other professionals who have routine contact with SVB personnel.  Specific comment is made on this performance dimension in the individual employee's yearly performance evaluation.  The maintenance of a working collaborative effort between the Sheriff's Department and other professionals during the course of a child abuse investigation is a requirement of this type of investigation and this Bureau.  Because of its importance, the maintenance of appropriate professional relationships is consistently monitored by the bureau manager and supervisors.

 

The monitoring of performance shall be reviewed by the SVB field lieutenant and the results of such reviews should be included in the sergeant's annual performance evaluation.

 

A chart reflecting the Sheriff’s stations, the Court that has jurisdiction over their criminal cases, and the SVB Team who serves the station area is attached to this order for reference.

 

Reviewed and approved by:

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                       

Richard Ruiz, Captain                                                                                

Special Victims Bureau                 

                                               

CHART OF STATION/COURT/TEAM

CONFIGURATION

 

 

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STATION	COURT	TEAM
Altadena	Pasadena Superior, Juvenile	Northwest
Avalon	Long Beach Superior/Juvenile	Central
Carson	Compton Superior/Juvenile	West
Century	Compton Superior/Norwalk Superior-Walnut Park/Hill St., Superior-Firestone/Florence/ Los Padrinos	Northwest
Cerritos	Norwalk Superior/Los Padrinos Juvenile/ Los Cerritos (Bellflower Superior)	South
Compton	Compton Superior Court/Compton Juvenile	Central
Crescenta Valley	Pasadena Superior, Juvenile/Glendale Superior	Northwest
East Los Angeles	Norwalk Superior/Criminal Courts Building (Downtown Los Angeles)/Eastlake Juvenile/ East Los Angeles Superior/ Southeast Superior/South Gate Superior	Northwest
Industry	Norwalk Superior/Pomona Superior, Juvenile/ Rio Hondo Superior	East
Lakewood	Norwalk Superior/Compton Superior, Juvenile/ Los Padrinos Juvenile/Los Cerritos (Bellflower) Superior	South
Lancaster	Antelope Valley Superior/Sylmar Juvenile	North
Lomita	South Bay Superior (Torrance) /Long Beach Superior/Inglewood, Long Beach Juvenile/San Pedro Superior	Central
Lost Hills/Malibu	Santa Monica Superior/Malibu Superior/ Sylmar Juvenile	West
Marina del Rey	Santa Monica Superior/Inglewood Superior,  Juvenile/Airport Superior	West