Monterey will move City Court from the police station back to City Hall.
Monterey Police Chief John Mackie said he brought the idea to Mayor Alex Garcia. Mackie said moving city court out of the police department was a change he felt was needed.
“The courtroom style environment at City Hall is set up like a courtroom, where the police department is a training room,” Mackie said. “And I’m having to bring people in and out of areas that probably don’t need to be coming through the police department.”
Mackie said people could wander into other offices at the police station if they were not watched closely. Mackie said the move will also allow free up more officers for the department to serve in other daily operations.
“I will only have to have one court officer where I was having to have multiple here in the hallways and stuff letting them in and out of the police department,” Mackie said.
Mackie said the change will be something that everyone will have to get used to.
“Still, we have people to even go to City Hall before they show up here trying to go to court, so it’s gonna be a little bit of a change, but everybody will get used to it,” Mackie said.
Mackie said the change will take place in June.
Mackie said written citations the town has already issued do not disclose the change.
