Traffic court process may change

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009

Under current law, all motorists who receive citations are issued a court date to challenge the charge in court. Many offenders opt to pay the fine, but wait until the last moment to do so, Jameson (D-Charles) said. That results in police officers appearing in court when they're not needed, taking them off the street or consuming overtime.

Jameson's proposal puts the onus on offenders to request a court hearing within 30 days of the citation's issuance.

"What we're hoping will occur is we will be able to keep the time necessary for the officers to be in court to a minimum, which will certainly decrease expenses for police personnel," she said.

The current system also "bogs down the district court," consumes judges' time and drives up administrative court costs, Jameson said.

The savings for local and state law enforcement agencies could total several million dollars statewide, she said.

"This is about managing our resources, both personnel-wise and budgets," said Capt. Rob Cleaveland of the Charles County Sheriff's Office, which estimates annual savings of $150,000. Sheriff's deputies regularly go to court only to learn that the citation was paid at the last moment, he added.

Any legislation that saves money is likely to get a favorable response from legislators who are grappling with a nearly $2 billion deficit in fiscal 2010.

If passed, the new rules wouldn't take effect until October 2010 so it could be instituted as part of a planned IT upgrade of the court system. Delaying the implementation would save as much as $100,000.

abrody@somdnews.com