Local courts facing reporter shortage
EL CENTRO — Just recently freed from COVID-19 restrictions that forced the postponement of many hearings, the local Superior Court faces a new challenge: just three court reporters to cover its 12 courtrooms.
Though there are six positions for the job, a combination of retirement and departure for other positions has cut that by half, said Mona Gieck, court director of administrative services. Not all matters require a reporter, but the court is scrambling to generate a proper record of proceedings that do.
“Some hearings have been (audio) recorded as a last resort when a case cannot be continued without the violation of a person’s rights and a court reporter is not available due to absences and/or reporters covering other court hearings, calendars or trials. No trials that would require a court reporter have been recorded,” Gieck said.
District Attorney Gilbert Otero said Friday his office is monitoring the situation.
“It hasn’t had any adverse effect. But if we have a trial or a preliminary hearing and we need a reporter, it might cause us a problem because defendants have a right to have a speedy hearing,” he said.
Otero did note an occasion where a prosecutor objected to a judge’s decision to continue with a trial readiness conference without a reporter present but said “we only objected for the record” and that did not represent any policy position.
A state court official reported Friday that Imperial County is not alone in its dilemma.
A report on the state Department of Consumer Affairs website, dca. ca.gov states there were 6,085 active licensed court reporters in the state as of Oct. 5, 2020, the latest data available. That was down from 6,338, or 4 percent, from the previous year.
“Unfortunately, the court reporter shortage that the Imperial County Superior Court currently faces is not limited to Imperial and is a statewide problem that is only getting worse,” said Blaine Corren, a spokesperson for the state Judicial Council.
The local Superior Court, overseen by Presiding Judge William D. Quan, has limited options to get temporary help.
“To assist with daily/ weekly assignments we attempt to hire per diem reporters to help with daily calendars. At this time, we only have one that is available on a more consistent basis,” Gieck added.
The search for the all-important permanent replacements requires a multi-faceted approach.
“To fill vacancies — continuous recruitment with various job sites. Court reporting schools have been contacted and provided with job-posting bulletin,” she added. “(Also) outreach to individuals that have applied and have not responded and/or were seeking CA certification to check on progress with said certification.”
A court reporter is a professional who is most often licensed and/ or certified to record proceedings using a stenotype machine, according to the website for Planet Depos, an international reporting service. Through a comprehensive post-secondary court reporting program, reporters are able to capture spoken words in a phonetic code on a stenotype machine, with each line of characters representing a sound or syllable.
Reporters have a grueling task, logging every word spoken during a proceeding for generating transcripts that may be used in further hearings on the matter, appeals or research for other cases. While trial criminal trials get the most publicity, reporters are used at many phases of court hearings and in many types of proceedings.