SR-701-012
Council Meeting: June 8, 2004 Santa Monica, California
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: Agreement with Los Angeles County Sheriff?s Department for the
Deleted:
Transportation of Santa Monica Police Department Prisoners to the
County Courthouse at Los Angeles International Airport for Their Court
Proceedings
Introduction
This report recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a service agreement with the Los Angeles County Sheriff?s Department (LASD),
for the transportation of Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) prisoners to the County
Courthouse at Los Angeles International Airport, where most will now have to appear to
attend their court proceedings. The annual cost for the proposed service agreement, for
FY2004-05, is $70,000, including $67,000 for basic service costs and a $3,000 (4.5%)
contingency for unusual but possible prisoner-related expenses incurred by the Sheriff?s
Department.
Background
Prior to 2000, all misdemeanor and felony criminal cases involving SMPD arrestees were
filed and adjudicated in the Santa Monica Branch of the Los Angeles Superior Court. The
Santa Monica Branch Courthouse is located within 200 feet of the Santa Monica Police
Department?s jail facility. Since 2000, the Los Angeles County Superior Court, in an effort
to consolidate its operations and reduce its costs, has been transferring more criminal
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cases, and more of the resources used to hear them, from the Santa Monica Branch
Courthouse to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Branch of the Superior Court.
The City was recently informed that no criminal case proceedings will take place at the
Santa Monica Branch Courthouse as of June 11, 2004, and that virtually all criminal case
hearings involving Santa Monica Police Department arrestees will occur at the Airport
Branch Courthouse as of June 14, 2004. This requires transport of arrestees for their
arraignments and other court proceedings to the Airport Branch Courthouse.
Discussion
In response to the Superior Court?s decision, City staff identified and investigated three
options: video arraignments, an in-house prisoner transportation unit, and a service
agreement with LASD for prisoner transport.
Arraignments could be conducted via a video link between the Santa Monica Public Safety
Facility?s (PSF) jail and a designated courtroom at the Airport Branch. SMPD staff would
be required to outfit and service at least three areas in the jail to accommodate prisoner
movement, defense attorney visitation, and the arraignments themselves. Video
equipment would have to be installed in the SMPD jail and in a courtroom at the Airport
Branch Courthouse, and at least six ISDN phone lines would be required. Jail section
employees would be responsible for preparation of court paperwork, jail remand
paperwork, and release paperwork that would normally be completed by court personnel,
potentially requiring two new Jailer positions. Additionally, according to LASD personnel,
as many as half of SMPD?s arrestees might not qualify for video arraignment and would
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still have to be transported to the Airport Branch Courthouse. Therefore, the video
arraignment option is not economically viable.
SMPD evaluated creating an in-house prisoner transportation unit. The Department
currently transports felony arrest prisoners to the Airport Branch for arraignment, using an
overtime detail three days per week at an approximate cost of $2,800 per pay period, or
$72,000 annually. SMPD currently has one heavy-duty jail transportation vehicle capable
of handling fifteen prisoners in three separate enclosures that are secure from each other.
While this vehicle is adequate on most days, there are many days (e.g. Mondays after
holiday weekends) when the number of prisoners to be transported would exceed the
existing vehicle?s capacity, and two round trips to the Airport Courthouse would be
required. One round trip to the LAX Branch Court, which involves travel time, loading and
unloading prisoners, and transferring prisoners, property, and documentation to County
personnel at the LAX Branch Court, requires the commitment of at least two SMPD
personnel for approximately three hours. An in-house ?Court Services Unit? with
employees working straight time hours to transport pre-arraignment arrestees to the Airport
Branch Courthouse would potentially require four Police Officer positions and one Police
Sergeant position from other units within the Police Department. The two current Court
Liaison staff members would also be assigned to the new unit. Transferring sworn
personnel from other units for creation of a new Court Services Unit during a time when
SMPD must freeze numerous positions due to budgetary constraints could significantly
impact the Department?s ability to perform its core functions in the manner desired and
deserved by the general public. Additionally, SMPD personnel who would be
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implementing this new court services program would not have the years of experience and
the extensive support system (for this function) that the Sheriff?s Department already
possesses.
Staff?s recommended option is a service agreement with the Los Angeles County Sheriff?s
Department for prisoner transport. Under the terms of a service agreement with the City of
Santa Monica, Sheriff?s Department personnel would make one pick-up at SMPD on each
court date to transport both male and female pre-arraignment misdemeanants, felons, and
Santa Monica warrant arrestees to the Airport Branch Courthouse. The typical Sheriff?s
Department prisoner transfer bus can seat the largest probable number of SMPD arrestees
that would require transportation to court on a given day and can also accommodate
arrestees with disabilities. SMPD would be required to provide security for loading of the
LASD bus, and would be responsible for the custody of all arrestees until they were
physically on the bus.
Based on discussions with and initial quotes received from LASD personnel, a service
agreement with the Los Angeles Sheriff?s Department would cost approximately $67,000
per year for basic prisoner transportation services. There would also be additional
transportation charges in the rare event that Sheriff?s Department personnel were required
to transport a SMPD prisoner to some location other than the Airport Branch Courthouse.
(SMPD personnel project that $3,000 per year would be adequate funding to cover such
unusual prisoner transportation charges.)
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The first full year that would be covered under a service agreement with LASD is FY2004-
05. The agreement would continue in force until terminated, with prior notice, by one of
the parties. Since the transfer of all SMPD arrestee criminal hearings to the Airport Branch
Courthouse will begin June 14, 2004, additional costs will be incurred for the month of
June. Those costs are estimated to be no more than $7,500 (approximately $5,600 for
basic prisoner transportation services, $400 for any extra services such as transportation
of a prisoner to a location other than the Airport Courthouse, and approximately $1,500 for
the one-time expense of providing additional security equipment needed for initiation of the
new service).
From the above analyses, it can be seen that obtaining Los Angeles Sheriff?s Department-
provided transportation services for Santa Monica Police Department arrestees who must
appear at the Airport Branch Courthouse for their criminal proceedings is the most viable
alternative.
Budget/Financial Impact
Sufficient funding to cover the 2004-05 LASD service cost is included in the Proposed
Budget for FY2004-05. Future year funding will be provided, as necessary, in subsequent
year City budgets.
Sufficient funding to cover the June 2004 expense is available in the Police Department?s
current (FY2003-04) operating budget at Account 01304.544390 (Other Costs), an account
where reimbursements made to Los Angeles County for other prisoner-related expenses
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are shown.
Recommendations
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and
execute a service agreement with the Los Angeles County Sheriff?s Department for
transportation of Santa Monica Police Department prisoners to the Airport Branch of Los
Angeles Superior Court for their criminal proceedings.
Prepared by: James T. Butts, Jr., Chief of Police
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