> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# $485K to be spent tonight at City Hall
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/485k-to-be-spent-tonight-at-city-hall/
- Published: 2004-06-08T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:31:03.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import

*Consultants have more work*

*By Daily Press staff*

(Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series that tracks the city’s expenditures which appear on the upcoming Santa Monica City Council consent agenda. Consent agenda items are routinely passed by the City Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public. However, many of the items have been part of public discussion in the past).

COUNCIL CHAMBERS — The $485,363 in spending expected tonight can be interpreted as standard government expenditures: Parking meters, consultants, a dump truck, employee insurance and costs associated with transporting prisoners from jail to the courthouse.

THE PRISONER SHUFFLE While it’s not the largest expense tonight, transporting prisoners is expected to be an ongoing cost to the Santa Monica Police Department.

It’s expected to cost City Hall $70,000 next year to transport prisoners from the Santa Monica Jail to the Airport Courthouse near LAX. Because of countywide cutbacks, no criminal cases will be heard at the Santa Monica Courthouse as of June 11, and virtually all criminal case hearings involving SMPD arrestees will occur at the Airport Courthouse beginning June 14.

Even though the Santa Monica Courthouse is located within 200 feet of the Santa Monica Jail, all arrestees will have to be taken to the Airport Courthouse for their arraignments and other court proceedings.

Prior to 2000, all misdemeanor and felony criminal cases involving SMPD arrestees were filed and processed at the Santa Monica Courthouse. Since 2000, the Los Angeles County Superior Court, in an effort to consolidate its operations and reduce its costs, has been transferring more criminal cases, and more of the resources used to hear them, from Santa Monica to the Airport Courthouse, city staff said.

The City Council is expected tonight to approve an agreement with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to transport the prisoners. The annual cost for the proposed agreement includes $67,000 for basic service costs and a $3,000 contingency for unusual but possible prisoner-related expenses incurred by the sheriff’s department, according to city documents.

Since the transfer of all SMPD arrestee criminal hearings to the Airport Courthouse will begin June 14, additional costs will be incurred for the current month, city staff said. Those costs are estimated to be no more than $7,500 — approximately $5,600 for basic prisoner transportation services, $400 for any extra services such as transportation of a prisoner to a location other than the Airport Courthouse, and approximately $1,500 for the one-time expense of providing additional security equipment needed for initiation of the new service.

With three different alternatives in front of them, city staff figured using the sheriff’s department was the most inexpensive option.

The SMPD considered having the court hold arraignments via video, but the logistics and costs were too high. Arraignments could be conducted through a video link between the jail and a designated courtroom. SMPD staff would be required to outfit and service at least three areas in the jail to accommodate prisoner movement, defense attorney visitation, and the arraignments. Video equipment would have to be installed in the jail and in a courtroom at the Airport Courthouse, and at least six phone lines would be required, city staff said. Jail employees would be responsible for paperwork that would normally be completed by court personnel, potentially requiring two new staff positions. And as many as half of SMPD’s arrestees might not qualify for video arraignments and would still have to be transported to the Airport Courthouse.

The SMPD also considered transporting its own prisoners, but that plan also had fundamental flaws. The SMPD currently transports felony prisoners to the Airport Courthouse for arraignments using an overtime detail three days a week at an approximate cost of $72,000 annually. The SMPD currently has one heavy-duty jail transportation vehicle capable of handling 15 prisoners in three separate enclosures that are secure from each other.

While the vehicle is adequate most of the time, there are many days when the number of prisoners would exceed the existing vehicle’s capacity, requiring two round trips to the Airport Courthouse, according to city documents. One round trip to the Airport Courthouse requires at least two SMPD staffers for about three hours. An in-house “Court Services Unit” with employees working straight time hours to transport pre-arraignment arrestees to the Airport Courthouse would potentially require four police officer positions and one police sergeant position, city staff said. Transferring sworn personnel from other units to create a new unit during a time when SMPD must freeze numerous positions because of budgetary constraints could significantly impact the SMPD’s ability to perform its core functions, city staff said. Additionally, SMPD personnel who would be implementing the new court services program would not have the years of experience and the extensive support system that the sheriff’s department already has for prisoner transfers, city staff said.

Under the terms the agreement, the sheriff’s department would make one pick-up at SMPD on each court date to transport both male and female pre-arraignment misdemeanants, felons, and Santa Monica warrant arrestees to the Airport Courthouse. The typical sheriff’s department prisoner transfer bus can seat the largest probable number of SMPD arrestees, according to city documents. SMPD would be required to provide security for loading of the sheriff’s department bus, and would be responsible for the custody of all arrestees until they were physically on the bus.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 8, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/060804.pdf?ref=smdp.com)