Controversy continues over city money given to developers of 4th Street Live

Absolutely you should be claiming OT for those calls - that is work time. LMPD officers are nuts for letting this stuff go on - only by holding to the letter can you change the And appear in court and refuse to leave, and get your comments on the record. If the prosecutors are willing to blame LMPD, show up and show them up.

To quote old Abe - "The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly." To paraphrase, the best way to change this stupid process will be to follow it carefully and completely, and gum up the courts so much that they are forced to change it. Show up every time, don't give up anything, wait and enter your objections on the record if the prosecutor wants to amend. Yeah, it will mean sacrificing some time in the short term, but has a chance of working in the long term.

Agreed. Defense attorneys and prosecutors want to play "lets-make-a-deal" the day of the trial to determine whether or not the defendant is going to accept a plea deal. The defense attorneys seem to meet their defendant clients face-to-face on the day of trial which further postpones the process. It seems the courts first priorities are the prosecuting/defense attorneys who have the luxury of a monday-friday/9-5. A midnight shift officer shouldn't have to attend court immediately after shift and remain at court for hours on end just to learn that the defendant decided to take the plea, or the case is going to be continued, or the defendant/attorney isn't present. I'd like to know how many times officers have been subpoenaed versus how many times thay actually had to testify on the case for which they were summoned. Basically, if your an officer and get subpoenaed to court, the only benefit your presence has is that the defense attorney is unable to make a motion to dismiss. Perhaps instead of pointing the finger at the police department (which seems to be the popular thing to do), one should look upon the court system/commonwealth attorney's office in regards to operating an inefficient and unorganized judicial process. I'm surprised the mayor hasn't looked into hiring a private firm to rejuvenate the system; after all, less officers being subpoenaed equals less overtime pay which ultimately equals more money in the mayor's wallet.

-Signed, a concerned civilian citizen who has observed a lot of wasted time in a court room.