HomeMy WebLinkAboutRPT 8 JAILS BKNG FEES 01-19-93REPORTS NO. 8
1-19-93
Inter -Com
DATE: JANUARY 13, 1993 �. U ,V '
TO: WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER
FROM: POLICE DEPARTMENT
SUBJECT: JAILS AND BOOKING FEES
RECOMMENDATION
Receive and file.
BACKGROUND
The City Council requested information on the feasibility of converting
-- the. present Police Department holding cells to a jail facility in which
arrestees could be kept until their court dates. This would eliminate the
need to pay booking fees to the county. The City Council further asked
that the option of recovering booking fees from arrestees be explored.
South county agencies, San Clemente and Laguna Beach in particular,
have utilized their jail facilities as booking facilities for several years due
to the distance and time involved in transporting arrestees to the Orange
County Jail (OCJ) or other central county jail facilities. In that those
agencies are of a similar size as Tustin and, by necessity, run a minimum
operation, their experience would be applicable to Tustin.
The major cost with a Type 1 jail facility is supervision. Constant
supervision is mandated by law whenever an arrestee is present in the
facility. Food, medical services, etc. would have to be available.
Basically, our holding facility would have to abide by the same standards
as OCJ, which is also a Type 1 facility.
San Clemente's jail program budget indicates the jail costs them
$ 300,000 per year to operate. Presently they have five jailers to allow
for 24-hour supervision of their arrestees/inmates. The jailers are
nonsworn employees, however they advised they are currently involved
in a lawsuit to require the custodial officers be sworn personnel; the
impact will be a further increase of costs. Their feeling is the lawsuit will
be successful, and the jailer positions will be reclassified to require filling
by sworn personnel.
Mr. Huston
January 13, 1993
Page 2
Last fiscal year the Tustin Police Department expended approximately
$108,000 in booking fees. This year it appears the costs will be
reduced even more, perhaps in the neighborhood of $100,000. With
these numbers in mind, it appears a jail facility is not a viable option for
the City of Tustin.
Several agencies have put into place resolutions/ordinances allowing the
cities to recover the costs of the booking fees. The Police Department
has obtained copies of these documents, which will be forwarded to the
City Attorney for evaluation and a design of the necessary legislation for
the City of Tustin to enact similar legislation. This proposal will be
presented to the City Council as soon as it is completed.
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W. DOUGLAS FRANKS
Chief of Police
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