Task Force Will Study Time Officers Spend in Courts

Concerned by the amount of time and money wasted when police officers wait to testify in court, a group of law enforcement and government officials Wednesday formed a task force to find ways to cut down on such costly delays.

Members of the Countywide Criminal Justice Coordination Committee voted to study the issue after an official with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said deputies spend as much as 95% of their time in court just waiting to testify.

“I think the taxpayers would be concerned if they knew how much time we spend testifying,” said Undersheriff Jerry Harper.

In January, he said, deputies spent a total of 6,429 hours in court, but only 298 hours testifying. Broken down by cost, Harper said, the county paid out about $276,000 to deputies for court overtime in January, but the value in actual testimony was $12,856. Annually, he said, the department spends $6 million to $7 million a year on court overtime.

“This was not meant to cast aspersions on the Los Angeles district attorney or the courts,” Harper said. The information, he added, was intended to highlight the problem and the need for a solution.

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The countywide task force is expected to build on the work accomplished by a similar group formed several years ago by Mayor Richard Riordan, which also studied the problem.

The mayor’s task force proposed nine reforms, which were touted as possibly saving the city of Los Angeles nearly $11 million and return the equivalent of 234 police officers to the street, members said during a news conference in December 1995. Among the recommendations, the task force suggested that attorneys try to reach plea settlements earlier in the legal process and wait until closer to trial start times to summon officers who are potential witnesses.

While the recommendations saved some time and money for Los Angeles Police Department officers, they did not solve what continues to be a nagging and expensive problem for law enforcement. The mayor’s committee has recently reformed to continue its review of the court overtime issue. Several members of the mayor’s task force will serve on the panel, officials said. The new group will include representatives from the courts, district attorney’s office, city attorney’s office, the LAPD, the Sheriff’s Department and other criminal justice officials.

“This is an issue that pops up every year,” said Cmdr. Dave Kalish, an LAPD spokesman. “It’s an ongoing problem.”

Kalish said the LAPD had 1.3 million hours overtime last year, about 20% of which went toward officers testifying in court.

Officers typically spend days waiting at the courthouse, often only to wind up without testifying, justice system leaders have said.

To some LAPD officers, court overtime is an easy way to make money at a time when the department is attempting to cut back on overtime expenditures.

“We call it ‘splinter time’ because all we do is sit on benches reading books and magazines,” one LAPD officer said.

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While law enforcement and criminal justice officials realize that improvements need to be made, they recognize that it won’t be easy. Frequently, prosecutors need to have police on hand to testify at different stages of a defendant’s case to satisfy various legal requirements.

“It’s going to require a lot of dialogue and cooperation among sometimes adversarial parties,” said Assistant City Atty. Earl E. Thomas, who is a member of both task forces. “There are limits to what we can do to solve the problem without compromising our positions and obligations under the law. . . . but it’s a worthy goal.”