Before private process serving companies were established to provide lawyers and citizens with an alternative, sheriffs in every county were responsible for all of the process serving duties in their areas. The Los Alamos County Council recently made headlines by announcing that the Los Alamos Sheriff’s Office would no longer handle process serving responsibilities, with the exception of sex-offender monitoring duties.
Instead of the Sheriff’s Office, it’s the Los Alamos Police Department that will be shouldering the responsibility of serving papers around the county. The motion passed in a questionable manner, with two council members absent, very short notice given for the vote, and no operational, financial, or legal analysis available regarding the decision. Only one council member brought these questions to light and opposed the motion, but it still passed with four other affirmative votes.
The concerns that propelled this unprecedented movement to vote involved concern that the Sheriff’s office personnel were not sufficiently trained or prepared for the situations that might arise during process serving duties. One attendee, Robert Gibson, explained, “Part of that risk [in the current system] stems from the potential confusion as to the proper role of sheriff’s office personnel in this county, as distinct from their traditional roles elsewhere…past sheriffs have indicated that if, while executing their civil functions, their personnel saw criminal activity or a citizen asked them for help, they would address the situation. That puts well-meaning but usually untrained and uncertified personnel into additional risky situations and could delay summoning the PD.”
The Sheriff’s Office is fiercely fighting the change, asserting that the sheriffs have more than enough training and experience to handle what may come during process serving. “I’d like to let you know that any attempt to transfer duties from the sheriff’s office or to eliminate the sheriff’s office will be met with vigorous opposition,” the Undersheriff declared at the time.
This decision has caused a rift in Los Alamos, and only time will tell what ultimate resolution is to come.
