Saturday, Jan. 14, 2006 | 7:15 a.m.
WANTED: Roughly 4,000 new Clark County employees to work in several areas of the justice community. Deadline for applications is 2025.
The county may soon want to place such a job posting if it supports a county study that predicts a 118 percent caseload growth and 48 new district Court judges by 2025.
The report also found that Justice Courts in Southern Nevada, which now have 21 judges, will need 15 new judges to handle the increased caseload predicted over the same period. Ten of those judges would be added to Las Vegas Justice Court.
Just for District Court, a staff of four people per judge is required, meaning 192 employees would be needed. In Justice Court, where there are more workers per courtroom, 345 new employees would have to be added.
Because of a ripple effect from this anticipated growth, the bulk of the additional workforce needed would consist of more bailiffs, prosecutors, public defenders, corrections officers and clerks.
But unlike the state-funded salaries of judges, those salaries would be billed to Clark County.
Inflation and other factors make it difficult to estimate the cost of the additional employees' salaries, officials say. But the annual expense clearly would total tens of millions of dollars. Although the number of employees needed just to support the predicted number of new District and Justice Court judges may seem high, it is paltry compared to the total needs of the justice community.
Mikel Holt, deputy chief of Detention Services for Metro Police, has perhaps felt the effect of the caseload growth more than anyone else in the local justice system.
Holt said as of Friday morning there were 3,437 people in custody at the Clark County Detention Center, even though the facility has only 2,859 beds. The number includes 300 inmates sleeping on cots and another 300 are in beds that the county rents in jails operated by North Las Vegas, Las Vegas and Henderson, Holt said.
A Detention Center audit completed in October 2005 determined an additional 2,000 more beds will be needed by 2010 and yet another 2,000 beds will be required by 2020.
The same study found that the facility's roughly 700 guards are stretched very thin.
Although the recommended ratio of guards to inmates is 1 to 64, at Clark County Detention Center, that ratio is about 1 to 100.
Holt said that in 2010 he will need roughly an additional 450 correctional officers, and another 450 by 2020.
Holt also said a total of about 500 civilian employees will be needed to cover administrative needs, bookings, food service and custodial duties.
The deputy chief added, however, that those projected numbers could be less than anticipated depending on a new jail's design and location. If the new jail beds can be housed downtown adjacent to the Detention Center, then less staff might be needed. But beds at a satellite facility could require more employees.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Lalli said his office staff will need to increase 300 percent by 2025 if the growth and caseload estimates hold up.
He said 267 new attorneys and 706 support staff would be needed to "bridge the gap on where we are now and where we'll be in the future and to close the margin on the number of cases per attorney in our office."
Lalli said each deputy currently handles 780 cases annually, which he called "an ungodly number."
In comparison, a 2003 report conducted by the California District Attorney's Association revealed that prosecutors in Los Angeles County handle only 192 cases a year and those in San Bernardino and Orange County, respectively, handle 259 and 180 cases annually, Lalli said.
Adding to the district attorney's office budget will be the fact it will have to move its criminal division out of the Regional Justice Center in 2009 to make room for new District Court judges.
He said the office is currently taking bids from architects and contractors for a new office.
Public Defender Phil Kohn also believes his 153-worker office will need an additional 353 employees as a result of the expected growth by 2025. He stressed that number will only "keep us at our current level, which is way behind the curve."
He argues that the ripple effect is greater for his office because for the 10 years prior to County Manager Thom Riley's arrival two years ago, "the public defender's office was totally ignored."
Kohn said in the two years Riley has held the reins "he has done a great job" in boosting funding for the office. Even so, each deputy public defender now handles roughly 400 felony and 190 misdemeanor cases annually, a caseload heavier -- because of the greater burden attached to felony cases -- than national guidelines that recommend that a deputy handle 150 felony and 400 misdemeanor cases.
Kohn said compared to other counties of a similar size across the country, his office's case per attorney ratio is "grossly ridiculous."
One issue that will not be resolved until the county determines how to house the new judges involves security.
Court Executive Officer Chuck Short believes a new facility should be built next to the recently opened $185-million Regional Justice Center. Short said such a facility would likely house both the Family Court as well as a combination of 12 to 24 new courtrooms for criminal and civil cases.
Short said District Court administration would require 193 new employees.
If the county decides to build a second tower of the Regional Justice Center similar in size and function of the current building, Lt. Maury Iorio, head of Clark County court security, said it will require the same amount of security. That would involve, Iorio said, 18 full-time bailiffs, one part-time bailiff and one supervisor.
Clark County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre said her office will need 644 new employees by 2025, a 198 percent increase in staff.
Parraguirre said the clerk's office currently needs 57 additional people to meet national standards. The current staffing crunch "is killing our staff" and is resulting in a great deal of overtime, she said.
She also pointed out that the Wiley & Associates study does not guarantee that her office would receive the staff increase suggested.
"We ask the county every year for the amount of staff we need to improve customer service and meet the needs of the courts, but we don't even get half the number of people we ask for," she said.
Matt Pordum can be reached at 474-7406 or at [email protected]
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