2008 Annual Report - Superior Court of California - County of Los ...

Every year, more than 200,000 restricted items are
discovered at weapons screening stations, including
handguns, knives, daggers, dirks, blades, pellet guns, billy
clubs, nunchucks, razors and handcuffs. Depending on the
situation, deputies may deny entry to a patron with a
restricted item, or agree to hold the item until a person
completes his or her court business.
Besides protecting the public, the Sheriff ’s Department
also has a special group of deputies
who investigate threats made against our judicial officers.
Each year, the Judicial Services Unit (previously known as the
Security Operations Unit) investigates about 200 threats — the bulk of
which are angry letters or other inappropriate correspondence.
Annually, roughly a dozen cases turn out to be legitimate threats,
which require monitoring or arrests.
In December, we tackled the topic of security in an issue of our
judges’ magazine, Gavel to Gavel. Judicial officers wrote compelling,
well-received stories, many of which are frightening — death threats; a
judge and his wife who were murdered at their home; defendants
hiding and using weapons in court; a threat against a judge’s child; a
gun held to a prosecutor’s head; a hit list found in a solitary
confinement cell that included the name of a judge. The list goes on.
A big part of the problem is that Los Angeles County has
security needs unlike any other county in the state. We have highprofile
cases weekly — if not daily — that require us to have
additional deputies. A single minor court appearance by a
celebrity can require more than a dozen deputies to manage the
inevitable crush of media and assure uninterrupted access to the
Court for all customers.
Gang territory surrounds or borders more than a dozen of our
courthouses, creating a volatile atmosphere. It is not uncommon for two or more multidefendant,
multi-victim gang murder cases to be on trial simultaneously in some of our
courthouses. This creates constant security demands that are unseen anywhere else in
California.
As the largest court in the state, we have more dangerous inmates to transport, hold in our
court lockups and return to their cells than anywhere else. Many of these lockups are older,
inefficient facilities that require intensive staffing levels to operate safely.
The Court maximizes every dollar we are allocated to work with the sheriff to provide the
best security we can. Nearly 90 percent of the Court’s security personnel are at or near the
highest salary range. This is not by plan, but
is a function of the reality of the
organization’s structure.
Preserving the safety of our litigants, staff
and judicial officers — and how to pay for it
— is always on the minds of Court leadership,
as we constantly assess and reassess how to
improve upon our already-tight security, while
continuing to struggle with inadequate
resources.
Los Angeles Superior Court Annual Report 37