MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – Law enforcement officials in Mendocino County are asking the Mendocino County Superior Court’s judges not to go forward with deep cuts to services planned at the court’s Fort Bragg-based Ten Mile division.
On Tuesday Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster, Sheriff Tom Allman, Fort Bragg Police Chief Scott Mayberry, Ukiah Public Safety Director Chris Dewey and Willits Police Chief Gerry Gonzalez delivered a formal letter of opposition to each of the judges of the local Superior Court regarding their plan to curtail court services on the Mendocino Coast, starting in January.
The county’s top law enforcement leaders believe the cutbacks planned for the Fort Bragg-based Ten Mile division of the Superior Court are contrary to the needs of public safety on the coast, and place increased and unfair burdens on coastal residents.
They said that taking away all felony matters, all juvenile hearings, all jury trials and all cases in which defendants are held in-custody is ill-advised.
The cuts, they said, will have a much greater budgetary impact collectively on the Fort Bragg Police Department, the Sheriff’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, State Parks, Fish and Game, and the District Attorney’s Office than the amount of money the Mendocino County Superior Court hopes to save.
“Victims, witnesses, jurors, business owners, and other interested coastal residents who already have difficulty attending court proceedings in Fort Bragg due to limited transportation options and work obligations will now be forced to undertake an even more daunting and arduous trek – both in terms of time and expense – to the crowded Ukiah courthouse, assuming you go forward with your plan,” the letter said.
Fort Bragg Police are expected to spend less time on the streets and more time driving to the Ukiah courthouse, which is a 90-minute drive one way, the letter said. “None of the coastal law enforcement agencies could anticipate and budget for the increased time and effort your plan will unilaterally cost each agency.”
The letter continues, “Each of us understands that difficult decisions must be considered when budgets are cut. We have all been required to do this within our own organizations. Yet, we have all reorganized and absorbed our respective budget cuts while keeping the public’s interest and their safety foremost in our minds. Again, the service cuts you seek to impose on the coast is a bad plan, makes the courts less accessible to a large percentage of local residents, and hurts more people than it will help the Superior Court’s bottom line.”
The law enforcement officials conclude by asking Mendocino County’s eight judges to make their budget and service cuts in Ukiah if they believe that needs to be done, “but please leave Fort Bragg’s Ten Mile Division of the Superior Court alone so it can continue to be a full-service court doing the important and full-time business of the people who call coastal Mendocino County home.”