The Association of Riverside County Chiefs of Police and Sheriff (ARCCOPS) is urging county judges to end their "reckless dismissal" of criminal cases.
In a recent statement posted on its website, ARCCOPS called upon Riverside County Superior Court judges to immediately stop the mass dismissal of criminal cases, citing a public safety crisis. ARCCOPS noted that a large percentage of the dismissed cases deal with domestic violence, while many represent felonies with firearms.
Superior Court judges have dismissed more than 1,000 criminal cases as of Dec. 16, making the county a more dangerous place to live; the Riverside County District Attorney's Office said.
As an alternative, ARCCOPS wants Riverside County judges to embrace "creative solutions" in order to avoid mass dismissals; the statement said. Local courts in Riverside County need to do more as well. ARCCOPS noted that Riverside could take a lesson from judges in Sacramento County who "embraced creative solutions to avoid mass dismissals," such as arranging night courts and holding hearings via Zoom.
"We call on Riverside County judges to show that same level of urgency and creativity to address this public safety crisis," ARCCOPS said in the statement. Additionally, the association noted that law enforcement is facing constant streams of calls from crime victims and their families who are unsure if justice will be served in their cases, and "they deserve an answer."
ARCCOPS also urges the State to do more, suggesting the possible addition of more judges and staff to assist in alleviating the tremendous backlog caused by "the court's inability to regularly conduct criminal trials during the pandemic."
The Riverside County District Attorney's Office issued a news release in December to shed some light on the situation. The release stated that in October 2022, the court reported a total of 2,800 cases were pending trial. Then on Oct. 10, Superior Court judges ordered mass dismissals of criminal cases, citing a lack of available courtrooms.
The DA's Office noted that case dismissals continued to occur daily, with a total of 1,098 criminal cases dismissed as of Dec. 16. The dismissed cases included both misdemeanor and felony matters, encompassing a wide range of crimes. At the time of the news release, approximately 83 felony cases had been dismissed including charges such as attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, sex crimes, child abuse and domestic violence.
"Our office respectfully disagrees with the decisions the judges continue to make regarding mass case dismissals,” District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in the release. "A one-size-fits-all approach of blanket case dismissals is not the answer. We are continuing to ask the bench to look at each case individually to determine if there is good cause to continue the matter until a courtroom becomes available.”
Hestrin tried to inject the human element of the cases that gets missed when matters are dismissed without consideration.
"One thousand cases dismissed is a thousand too many," he said. "There are real cases with real victims. The victims deserve the right to have their case heard in a court of law. Our victims of crime are being deprived of justice because of a case backlog in the courts."