Marshal Stresses Court Security : Improved Equipment Is Also Goal of New Jobholder

His name is on the door and his picture is on the reception room wall, but newly selected Los Angeles County Marshal Robert Mann, 41, so far has been too busy to move into his new office.

Chosen over five finalists Wednesday night by the Los Angeles County Municipal Judges Assn., Mann was sworn in Thursday and immediately dashed off to teach a class for veteran deputies. His top priority for the marshal’s office is to beef up courtroom security, and he intends to continue getting his message across to deputies personally.

Mann has been acting marshal since John Mahon, 55, left the marshal’s office because of heart trouble 18 months ago. Mahon received a disability pension last April.

620 Deputies

With 620 deputies and 180 clerical personnel, the marshal’s office serves the county’s 24 Municipal Courts and 157 judges.

Deputies act as bailiffs, escort 250,000 prisoners to courtrooms annually, provide security for court buildings, serve civil documents and collect judgments from litigants, inspect vehicles after mandatory repairs, and arrest on bench warrants those who fail to appear in court.

“When I was named acting marshal, I decided I could be a caretaker or we could move ahead. I decided to take the latter course,” said Mann, visiting his future office during an interview Friday afternoon. “If you are willing to accept the status quo, that is the same as going backwards.”

What he has done during his 18-month practice run for his new job includes:

- Conducting a manpower survey to see whether courts throughout the county are adequately staffed to handle the 30% increase in prisoners that has occurred over the last three years.

- Obtaining approval for 35 additional deputies that the survey indicated are needed.

- Upgrading state-required retraining of deputies from three days every four years to four days every two years and increasing in-office training for new deputies from two weeks to six weeks, after their 16-week course in law enforcement school.

- Training deputies to evaluate death threats to judges and to provide appropriate protection, including bodyguards when necessary.

As marshal, Mann intends to continue to develop training and retraining programs and to push for funds for needed equipment in his effort to strengthen courtroom security throughout the county.

Equipment ‘Insufficient’

“Everything from automobiles to typewriters is in insufficient quality and quantity,” said Mann, who prepares the marshal’s budget for the judges and the county administrator’s office. Municipal Courts and the marshal’s office are funded by the county.

The current changeover was far more routine than when Mahon was selected 10 years ago to replace Timothy Sperl.

Sperl had been fired by the judges on May 19, 1975, after he was convicted of four felony counts and one misdemeanor relating to use of his deputies for political activities.

Prosecutors said he assigned deputy marshals to provide transportation for former Supervisor James Hayes and others and to sell tickets to fund-raisers during Hayes’ 1972 supervisorial campaign.

Sperl had been suspended by the judges shortly after his indictment on the charges on Jan. 23, 1974. Three months before he was fired, he received a disability retirement pension from the Los Angeles County Retirement Board.

Mahon, formerly a lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department, upgraded the image of the marshal’s office, which had been dimmed by the political scandal.

Mahon Credited

“In the last 10 years, there has been a remarkable change in the professionalism of the department,” said Mann, crediting Mahon. “People in the department would not allow it to slip back into that Sperl era.”

Robert Clifford, secretary to the judges’ association, said Mann was selected on the third ballot, receiving 91 votes from the 129 judges present. His closest competitors were Daniel R. Sullivan, deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, and Charles L. Johnson, a commander in the marshal’s office.

Other finalists interviewed and considered Wednesday night after a nationwide search were Clyde F. Gatlin, a commander in the marshal’s office; John T. Hall, an administrative supervisor in the Los Angeles office of the FBI, and D. Clayton Mayes, a Los Angeles Police Department captain.

Mann, who had held the rank of assistant marshal, has worked in the marshal’s office for 20 years. He is the sixth marshal since the post was created in 1952.

Salary for the position ranges between $67,719 and $91,946. Clifford said the county administrator’s office will set Mann’s salary based on his experience.