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Short staffed, and still expanding


While Tempe property crime rates continue to rise year-to-year, the city court is struggling to keep up with the workload.

"We need more trained staff," said Deputy Court Manager Nancy Rodriguez, a newcomer to the job after four and a half years in the Scottsdale court system.

A high turnover rate in the past two years, which Rodriguez blames on higher salaries available in other cities, has left the facility the most understaffed court in Maricopa County. The ratio of court filings to employees is 32 percent more than any other city in the county and has lead the court to rely on workers that do not have the necessary training. These factors have created a situation Rodriguez calls "a bit of a vicious cycle."

The city has not asked for new staff hires since 1995 and is reluctant to do so because taxpayer money pays court employee salaries, according to Rodriguez.

"We try not to ask for what we don't need," she said.

It takes at least six months to adequately train court staff, and according to Rodriguez, there are currently three vacancies available to be filled. As is customary, the court will first look to recruit internally to avoid having to train employees from scratch. If less than two people are interested in the jobs, the court will look outside the system.

Staffing is not the only issue that the court is facing with increased demand. About 700 people pay a visit to the building every day, and with an adjacent lot formally used for free public parking now being turned into an office for the Valley Metro light rail system, court visitors are now finding difficulty just getting into the building itself.

As for crimes going punished at the court, parking violations alone have accounted for nearly $300,000 in revenue for the city over the first 10 months of the fiscal year, a statistic that Rodriguez said represents a "thriving industry." That number is actually low compared to projected figures at this point, according to Rodriguez.

Property crime in the city, especially robbery and car theft, has statistically been higher than the most cities in the U.S. over the past several years, according to FBI figures. The number of robberies in the city jumped from 263 in 2004 to 426 in 2006. Money Magazine's examination of the best places to retire in 2006 placed the city's property crime risk at nearly double the national average.

Just last week, the Tempe Police Department announced it would hire 31 new employees, including 16 officers, the largest expansion of the police force in over five years. This is likely to mean more arrests and an even larger demand on the court.

Overall, according to Rodriguez, the Tempe Municipal Court has processed 4,600 criminal arraignments this year, and 1,800 civil traffic arraignments.

"Number-wise, we do a pretty brisk business," she said.

Reach the reporter at: obeytheoctopus@cox.net.


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