Kentucky

Here is a short link to the forum story following the Officer Absent, Case Dismissed series by the Courier Journal at the Louisville Forum.  I looked for the video on line to no avail.  Should you know, then email me the link.

For what it is worth, I think the police are unnecessarily taking the brunt of the heat for a problem that has existed for years with its dysfunction becoming the norm and accepted practice.  Electronic warrants and monitoring attendance may make sure the officers know and the absences accounted for, but with a police force of limited size and a criminal docket growing almost by unlimited means, then the system of prosecuting, appearances, etc. needs to be examined also.  When cops are waiting in the courthouse halls waiting to be called (or not called) then they are not on the streets investigating and enforcing the laws.  Judges did not follow up on those failing comply with the subpoena, prosecutors wrote a few letters and did not push the issue further (eg., former county attorney and now circuit court Judge Irv Maze was in charge for most of the time period that came under the Courier's scrutiny), and defense attorneys playing dismissal lotto in the event of a no show.

And of course, all the concern seems to be on the criminal side of the house, but there are those in the civil side with cases that need the police to show in which the subpoena process often requires private bailiffs to track down the police officer to serve the warrant that he or she does not want to receive.  People can be victims and be hurt in ways beyond the criminal laws - eg., car accidents and other injuries.

Police to make court more, forum is told