Policy Text
Procedure
325Garden Grove Police Department
Procedures Manual
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2022/06/27, All Rights Reserved.
Published with permission by Garden Grove Police
DepartmentSubpoena and Court Appearance Procedures
- 1Subpoena and Court Appearance Procedures
325.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
This procedure will establish guidelines for handling electronic subpoena notifications sent directly
to department employees through electronic mail, court appearances, and related compensation.
325.2 COURT APPEARANCE NOTIFICATION
Criminal subpoenas will be served directly to all police department employees through the
Department’s e-mail system. When an employee receives an electronic subpoena, the employee
will be responsible to do the following:
(a)Employees must open all electronic subpoena e-mails each workday.
(b)Subpoenas sent by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office are sent via an
automated system integrated with InTime/ILJAOC. All subpoenas are automatically
accepted by the system if there is no pre-scheduled conflict in the scheduling system
(i.e. vacation or some other type of leave) and they fall in to the 7 day notice timeframe.
(c)If the system registers a conflict, the CLO will determine whether to accept or reject
the subpoena. If the subpoena falls into already scheduled leave for the employee,
the subpoena will be rejected and returned to the OCDA’s office. If the subpoena falls
under the 7 day notice timeframe, the subpoena will be accepted if the court date falls
on the employee’s normal work day. Otherwise, the CLO will contact the subpoenaed
officer and ask if they will accept the late-notice subpoena. If the employee does
not accept the subpoena, or the CLO cannot contact the subpoenaed officer, the
subpoena will be rejected as mentioned above.
(d)Any employee requesting additional time off (i.e. comp-time, holiday, other vacation,
etc.) must submit a brief memorandum to his or her immediate supervisor. If the
request for time off is approved, it will be retained in the employee’s Division or Unit file.
(e)It will be the employee’s responsibility, with the assistance of the CLO, to contact the
District Attorney’s office if time off is requested.
(f)Department employees must also check his or her mailboxes for criminal subpoenas
still being hand-delivered to the CLO for service.
NOTE: InTime/ILJAOC does not differentiate an employee’s normal day off. It is the responsibility
of the employee to notify his/her supervisor of days he/she may be unavailable for court on normal
days off. This may include scheduled time off, doctor’s appointments or other forms of accepted
leave.
The Court Liaison Officer’s responsibilities are as follows:
(a)Upon receipt of a subpoena and other documents (i.e. memorandum) from an
employee noting unavailability on an already accepted subpoena, the CLO will
immediately contact the issuing agency (Court, D.A., Public Defender). If the issuing
agency still requires the employee to appear at court the CLO will notify the employee.
Garden Grove Police Department
Procedures Manual
Subpoena and Court Appearance Procedures
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2022/06/27, All Rights Reserved.
Published with permission by Garden Grove Police
DepartmentSubpoena and Court Appearance Procedures
- 2(b)Check the InTime/ILJAOC scheduling system daily for any conflicts with new
subpoenas.
(c)If there are any subpoenas in the conflict queue, the CLO will address each one
individually.
1.Subpoenas that fall under already scheduled leave for the employee will be
rejected by the CLO, printed and stamped with the reason and given the soonest
availability date. These subpoenas are returned to the OCDA’s office.
2.Subpoenas that fall under the minimum 7 day notice will be accepted if the court
date falls on the employee’s normally scheduled work day. Otherwise, the CLO
will contact the subpoenaed employee and ask if he/she will accept or reject the
subpoena. If the CLO cannot get into contact with the subpoenaed employee
that day, the subpoena will be rejected. Rejected subpoenas will be handled as
stated above.
(d)The CLO will maintain a Subpoena Log that includes employees’ court and court alert
time for each court day. The Subpoena Log will be made available to all Division and
Unit Commanders via email.
325.3 COURT ALERT
On the day indicated on the court subpoena, employees are on "court alert" status. Employees
should be prepared to testify and be in possession of pertinent reports, citations, and other
necessary court documents.
Employees will remain on "court alert" during normal court hours or until notified by the CLO.
If a case is continued or trailed, the employee continues to be on "court alert" until notified
otherwise by the CLO. The InTime/ILJAOC scheduling system automatically notifies an employee
via text message and email if a case is continued or trailed to another date. It is the employee's
responsibility that the system has an accurate phone number to be notified or subpoenas and
trailed cases.
If the District Attorney's Office contacts the CLO's office after hours regarding a continued or
trailing case, he or she will be directed to contact Police Records personnel, who will immediately
make notification to employees by telephone.
If an employee is off duty and not at his or her home telephone number, or cannot be reached by
cellular phone, he or she must notify the CLO of the telephone number where he or she can be
contacted. If the CLO is unavailable, the on-duty Patrol Sergeant is to be notified of