Funds Handled by Municipal Courts
Re “Municipal Courts Lack Safeguards, Run Risk of Fraud,” Feb. 2:
The allegations made regarding the failure of court management to properly control and limit the handling of funds by employees are directly on target. Further evidence of this failure is illustrated by the courtroom collection of fees, one of the job responsibilities of my membership, the court clerks and judicial assistants of Los Angeles Superior Court.
On a daily basis, we are responsible for handling the collection of jury and court reporter fees during trial. In the Central Division alone, which consists of over 50 trial courts, this amount can total over $25,000 a day.
Yet, until very recently, none of my members had been trained in proper money-handling techniques. Checks and cash collected in the courtroom often sat for days or weeks before being delivered to the finance office.
The courtroom collection of fees by over 400 Superior Court clerks and judicial assistants throughout this county is an invitation to trouble. Common sense, much less proper accounting procedures, dictates that fewer money-related problems occur with fewer employees handling funds. Court management has been aware of this situation for some time, but has yet to correct it.
KARLEEN A. GEORGE, Pres.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Clerks’ Assn.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
