ARLINGTON – Marysville Municipal Court is taking steps using technology to provide more-efficient justice for court users and neighboring cities such as Arlington that contract with it.
Marysville Judge Lorrie Towers and administrator Suzanne Elsner provided an update on court business to the Arlington City Council at its last work session.
Towers and fellow Judge Fred Gillings have issued protection orders over the past two years, a task handled previously by police and prosecutors. They have issued 104 for domestic violence, 82 for unlawful harassment and six for stalking or sexual assault.
The bulk of citations in the court have to do with traffic infractions – 1,570 in Arlington, but there were also 6,976 criminal cases, including 1,330 Arlington cases.
Total cases were 18,044, with 3,026 from Arlington. Most of the citations are received electronically from Marysville police, which yields cost savings, and more to handle from Arlington now that the city recently closed its violations bureau.
Statistically, Arlington’s per capita filing rate is 161 per thousand, compared with Marysville’s rate of 185 per thousand and Lake Stevens’ 94 per thousand.
Arlington police observed that when dividing criminal filings by total filings, Arlington accounted for 44 percent of criminal filings, Marysville 40 percent and Lake Stevens 28 percent. That tells them that challenges with a doubling homeless population in the past year, and a rising crime rate with spikes in car prowls and theft is keeping police extra busy.
The court saw its share last year of driving under the influence cases, Towers said. Arlington had 55.
The court reported nine jury trials in 2016.
The court used an interpreter 742 times – 106 times in Arlington, most often in Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian and Punjabi. The court is using “telephonic” interpreter services for first appearances and simple hearings, which is leading to fewer continuances and a cost savings of about $120 per case, Towers said.
Video court hearings are another way the court is saving money. There were 9,530 just from the Marysville jail alone, with 1,920 of them Arlington cases. Bailing hearings are held over the weekends and holidays, but can now be done online.
“These hearings take up every morning up to noon,” Towers said.
Another job that the judges have moved into is issuing search warrants. They are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They issued 282 last year.
“Judge Gillings and I are extremely busy processing search warrants, and we sometimes get the calls in wee hours of the morning,” Towers said.
Outstanding warrants are the bane of many courts, and Marysville municipal is no exception. Towers said the city began posting a list of individuals with outstanding warrants updated regularly on the city website. It has become the most-viewed page on the site, and reduced phone calls, too.
The court can quash warrants and reset them, which saves time, money and gets the person in to schedule new hearings. “Often, the court gets a call from someone saying ‘my mom told me I have a warrant,’” Towers said.
Councilman Chris Raezer reacted with puzzlement. “Is an outstanding warrant something that’s hard to forget?”
Elsner told council members that online payment of infractions is now activated on the Marysville website as one more payment option. Visit marysvillewa.gov.
