Sheriff: Stockton, Manteca Courthouses And Juvenile Hall Partially Closed Due To Sick Calls
STOCKTON (CBS13) – A rash of sick calls are being blamed for San Joaquin County courthouses being closed on Tuesday.
Both San Joaquin County courthouses in Stockton and Manteca are closed. Juvenile Hall is also partially closed, the sheriff's office says.
The doors the courthouses are locked and the public is barred from going in unless they are a relative of someone who is being arraigned. Only in-custody arraignments are being done on Tuesday. By law, they have to be arraigned within 48 hours.
According to the sheriff's office, approximately 30 of the part-time per-diem staff members did not come into work, reducing the courthouse staffing to emergency levels. Ten full-time deputies remained at the Stockton courthouse as part of their assignment.
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Many of the per-diem employees are retired San Joaquin County sheriff's deputies, according to the sheriff's office. They said these employees are "cost-effective and critical to our public safety efforts at our courthouses."
Attorneys are being allowed to work inside, but everyone else is being turned away.
The sheriff's office said they do not know if the sick calls are in response to a four and a half year contract dispute, but they said it is possible. Their office is not involved in the contract negotiation process.
The partial closure is likely impacting hundreds of not thousands of people at these three locations.
