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Home My WebLink About03-20-2012 B1 Dietrickajcouncil memoRAnb March 20, 2012 AGENDA hwd co a man: a COUNCIL o CITY MGR o ASST CM o CDD DIR o FIT DIR o FIRE CHIEF CORRESPONDENCE ° ATTORNEY o CLERK/OR1G o PWD1R a POLiCECHIEF TO: City Council Date. x 1te # L f o PIB o TRIBUNE o PARKS & REC DIR n UTILDIR o NEW TIMES o HR DIR e SLO CITY NEWS o COUNCIL FROM: J. Christine Dietrick City Attorney o CITY MOR ' y y o CLERK SUBJECT: Status of Overnight RV Camping Citations and Prosecutions In connection with Agenda Item B 1 in tonight's agenda, staff received a question regarding the status of infraction citations recently issued to individuals found sleeping in their vehicles on public streets in the City. Additionally, the City has received a variety of correspondence and media coverage regarding the recent issuance of citations. The purpose of this memo is to provide information in response to specific questions posed, but also to offer clarification regarding the role of the City Attorney's office as it relates to Municipal Code prosecutions. Below are the answers to the specific questions posed and some information regarding obligations of the City Attorney as City Prosecutor and the limitations of Council's role in the criminal enforcement process. Q: According to the Tribune, 48 citations have been issued in recent weeks. Could we obtain data about the disposition of those citations? I'd like to know how many, if any, of these citations resulted in fines imposed. Of these, how many were able to be collected? How many persons chose to serve their time in County jail, or chose other options such as community service in place of 'a fine or jail time? (Community Service can be and often is performed at CAPSLO sites, by mutual agreement). A: Citations issued by the Police Department and directly filed with the court are generally issued with court appearance dates set four to eight weeks from the date of issuance in order to ensure the court has adequate time to process the citations and provide any required notices to the party cited. Thus, it is likely that many of the individuals cited over the past several weeks have not yet reached their court appearance dates and that there is not yet a final disposition in the cases. The Court, rather than the City, maintains the disposition records and the City most frequently does not receive notice from the Court of the disposition of infraction cases. Police Department and /or City Attorney staff would need to identify all citations issued for the relevant code section in the relevant time frame and conduct research of Court records in order to provide any definitive data on the infraction dispositions and the amount of fines, if any, that may have been imposed. Infraction cases are heard by Court Commissioners, similar to traffic citations, and the penalties for infraction violations do not include jail time, but are limited to the payment of a fine determined by the Court. The only instance in which an infraction defendant could face jail time is where the defendant fails to appear in Court as ordered and a bench warrant is issued for the non - appearance. However, it has been our experience over the past year or so that the Court is generally not issuing bench warrants even where defendants fail to appear for court as required Page 2 by the citation. As the Council is no doubt aware, Court resources have been cut dramatically, while demands on those resources continue to increase. As a practical matter, the Court's overloaded dockets and staff workloads, limited jail resources, and the difficulties associated with contacting cited individuals who do not have fixed addresses render jail time for non- appearances on Municipal Code violations a very remote possibility. Limitations on Council's Participation in Prosecutorial Decisions It should be noted that, as the City Prosecutor, the City Attorney is bound by specific requirements for impartiality and is required to maintain objectivity and avoid even the appearance that the prosecutorial discretion to file or prosecute a criminal matter is subject to undue influence. The exercise of the prosecutorial discretion must be based solely on probable cause and the interest of justice; the prosecutorial decisions of the City Attorney's office cannot be subject to political direction or influence. As City Prosecutor, the City Attorney's office is acting on behalf of the People, similar to a District Attorney. Thus, my office cannot and will not seek or accept the direction of the City Council when making decisions regarding the filing or prosecution of a criminal case. To date, the City Attorney's office has received only one challenge to an issued citation for violation of Municipal Code Section 17.16.015. The defendant in that case filed a demurrer to the citation alleging that the City's ordinance is facially unconstitutional. This office filed an opposition to the demurrer yesterday defending the facial constitutionality of the validly enacted ordinance. A copy of the Demurrer and the People's opposition are available upon request for public review in the City Attorney's office. GAAttorney \Memos \Red Files\Agenda.Safe Parking.2012.3.20.doc Goodwin, Heather Subject: FW: Homeless Safe Parking - -- VOTE YES! I RECEIVED AGENDA MAR 2 0 2012 From: stacey stack CORRESPONDENCE 3/2012 Item# �3 -- SLO CITY CLERK Sent: Monday, March 19, 2012 8:40 PM Qate -- To: Ashbaugh, John Subject: Homeless Safe Parking - -- VOTE YES! Thank you for working as an advocate for the homeless in SLO -- I am in support of a safe parking location and hope that it will not come with too many strings attached... We have a problem that is not going to go away and taking steps to solve the problems of bathrooms facilities, shelter, and food goes a long way towards remedying this sad situation. A country as wealthy as the United States should view this homelessness as our own failing, failing at providing the basic living conditions for the most needy in our towns and cities... To think of all these people in creeks and cardboard tents in our cold and rainy weather is pitiful and I consider it inhumane... Please help with this problem and stop the police harassment in the middle of the night. Thank you for your work towards safe night parking. Stacey A. Stack, voter... o COUNCIL o CDD DIR • CITY MGR o FIT DIR • ASST CM o FIRE CHIEF o ATTORNEY o PW DIR o CLERKIORIG o POLICE CHIEF a PIB o PARKS & REC DIR A TRIBUNE o UTILDIR o NEWTIMES a HR DIR tl SLO CITY NEWS t3 COVNCIL tl CTTY MAR a CLERIC