Sheriff's office to provide security in juvenile court
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 4:44 PM PDT
By Tony Lystra
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe sheriff’s office has agreed to provide security during juvenile court proceedings after the county’s superior court judges demanded extra protection for the potentially fraught hearings.
Starting this month, deputies are providing 22 hours of protection to the juvenile court each week, Sheriff Bill Mahoney said Monday. The security detail will amount to overtime work, he said, and will cost nearly $12,000 this year. No deputies will be taken off the county’s roads to work in juvenile court, Mahohey said.
The judges have been trying to ramp up juvenile court security for years, saying emotional parents sometimes erupt in anger and youth occasionally bring weapons to court. The situation worsened in May after county commissioners slashed the county’s budget and the sheriff’s office laid off a team of security officers who had been providing sporadic protection in juvenile court.
The county’s four superior court judges sent a letter to the sheriff in late July, saying security in juvenile court “has now fallen to an unacceptable level.” The letter cited a section of state law stating the sheriff’s office must be present at all court proceedings. “We direct that ... you provide security during all sessions of court held at the Youth Services Center,” the letter said.
The move, according to the letter, is intended to “reduce potential for serious violence or harm to the public, county and state employees, and all who must use our facility.”
It’s the latest in a long budget battle between the superior court judges and the commissioners. The judges say the courts are inadequately funded and that the county needs to make more of a priority in ensuring swift trials and safety. The commissioners have said the county is simply out of money. The state Administrative Office of the Courts, a branch of the Washington Supreme Court, is expected to issue a report later this week assessing whether the county’s funding of the superior court meets the minimum standard described in the state Constitution.
Superior Court Judge Jill Johanson called the latest security arrangement “a temporary solution and noted that it won’t provide security for every juvenile hearing.
“We really need to have security during all court sessions,” she said.
Johanson also said funding for the security detail will come from a state fund, controlled by the county commissioners, that is intended to provide improvements to the court system. The money, Johanson said, is set aside for special projects, such as translating court documents into Spanish and a new reader board at the Hall of Justice that will better direct people to court hearings.
“Security, we feel, is like electricity,” she said. “It should have just been provided and not come out of the Trial Court Improvement Account.”
Johanson said she hopes more consistent funding for security will be found in next year’s budget.
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