Countywide : County Reimbursed for Police Trial Costs

Ventura County has received $224,588 from Los Angeles County as reimbursement for costs incurred during the trial of four Los Angeles police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King.

“Whenever there is a change of venue case, any costs incurred can be billed back to the originating city,” said Vince Ordonez Jr., assistant court executive officer for Ventura County.

The amount from Los Angeles County will cover costs incurred by the Sheriff’s Department, the courts, the General Services Agency and Information Systems Department, and will pay for security, furniture rental, and telephone and computer lines.

“There are statutes that define what can and cannot be billed,” said Ordonez.

“The only thing we could bill for were any extraordinary costs. We could not bill for normal operating costs, such as staff time.”

Of the $224,588 received from Los Angeles County, about $170,000 will cover the cost of security, Ordonez said.

“Besides the sheriffs, the county also hired private security to guard the courthouse around the clock,” Ordonez said.

“The figure is high for normal cases, but normal cases do not need security.”

There still remains $1,500 to be billed to the county to cover the cost of reimbursing Judge Stanley Weisberg for mileage.

Simi Valley has asked Los Angeles County to reimburse them for costs, including added security for trying the case in Simi Valley.

“We have received no formal response from the county,” said Mike Sedell, Simi Valley assistant city manager.