County Studies Giving Sheriff Court Security Role

Board of Supervisors Chairman Harriett M. Wieder and county administrators are studying a plan to transfer security duties for the Orange County court system from the marshal’s office to the Sheriff’s Department in a move they hope could save about $1 million a year.

The plan, if approved, would reverse the decade-old decision to move responsibility for court security to the county marshal.

Wieder said Wednesday that she has met with Sheriff Brad Gates to discuss the proposal, which is now under study by county attorneys.

Sheriff’s Lt. Dick Olson said Gates would have no comment on the plan, while court officials and those in the marshal’s office said they were not aware of any study that would affect the $10.6-million operation that provides security in the county’s 134 municipal and superior courts.

“I’m not aware of any dissatisfaction with the marshal among our judges,” said Judge Donald E. Smallwood, presiding judge of Superior Court. “I’m really quite surprised. I would like to get more information about this.”

Smallwood said the deputy marshals play a critical role in maintaining order in the courts, from directing the daily flow of prisoners in the courthouses to quelling disturbances in the volatile family court system.

“I don’t know where the county is on court security,” Smallwood said, “but I would be interested in seeing more courthouse security at this facility. . . . But you have to be sympathetic to the county budget problems.”

Smallwood referred to recent state budget mandates that have forced the county to cut more than $150 million from local services for the 1993-94 fiscal year.

Deputy County Counsel James Meade said attorneys were studying a possible merger of the marshal’s duties with those of the sheriff, but declined specific comment about the plan or how it might impact the future of the 228-member court support force.

Since court security was consolidated with the marshal’s office in 1983, Capt. Donald Spears said Wednesday he believed the office has made good on its promise to save the county the $1.9 million annually it promised at that time.

That decision 10 years ago appeared to put an end to a long-running struggle between the sheriff and the marshal’s office for control of court services.

“Obviously, this is being done hush-hush,” Spears said of the new study. “It appears to me that the (county) budget may be the driving force behind this. It’s kind of a crazy situation with the way the budget is out there.”

Still, Spears defended the marshal’s performance, saying that officers are specifically trained in courtroom protection, providing a higher level security.

“Our opinion is that we would provide a better and more consistent level of service,” Spears said.

An official in Wieder’s office, however, stressed that the study was only in its preliminary stages and was requested by the sheriff as a possible money-saving option for the county in tight fiscal times.

“Obviously, we would defer to what the judges and the law enforcement agencies would suggest,” said the official, who asked not to be identified. “It’s got to put us in a position where we would save substantial amounts of money over what we have now.”