THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604060279
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Long : 132 lines
Magistrates in Portsmouth have ``willfully'' misrepresented their workload to the state Supreme Court with statistics that are so inaccurate they are ``useless,'' a Supreme Court investigation has shown.
The investigation, completed Thursday, reveals an office in disarray where ``a feud'' between the chief magistrate and another full-time magistrate is destroying morale, said Supreme Court Technical Assistant Ron Neely.
Neely's investigation also indicates management problems and inefficiency in the office, which issues arrest warrants and sets bail for criminal defendants.
Neely began his review March 24 after The Virginian-Pilot raised questions about Portsmouth statistics published in the Supreme Court's annual State of the Judiciary Report. The newspaper also raised questions about personnel issues.
Those statistics indicate that Portsmouth has the busiest magistrate in the state and that magistrates in the city are overworked. They also indicate police have a harder time getting arrest warrants in Portsmouth than anywhere else in the state. Neely said those conclusions are inaccurate.
Internal problems have apparently not affected the meting out of justice, Neely said. However, stress, anger and hostility are bound to be affecting performance, he said.
The statistics are important because they help the Supreme Court figure out staffing and budgeting in magistrates' offices. They also help determine whether standards for granting warrants or releasing inmates on bond match community standards.
Neely reported his preliminary findings Thursday to the newspaper and to Chief Judge Norman Olitsky, who asked for the Supreme Court review after he was made aware of problems during an interview with The Virginian-Pilot.
Olitsky is ultimately responsible for oversight of the magistrates.
Neely said his report would not include any motive for overreporting statistics, which he called ``the worst I've ever seen.''
But he has said that offices sometimes overreport to get more magistrates and that ego drives some magistrates to overreport.
In the past, Portsmouth has repeatedly asked for more magistrates.
``They all know how to report accurately. They've chosen to do it differently,'' Neely said. ``Why? I don't care. But it has to be stopped.''
Chief Magistrate Gwendolyn C. Barrick said Friday her office has done nothing wrong. She said magistrates have overreported their workload because the logs provided by the Supreme Court do not accurately reflect the amount of work.
``No one has deliberately cheated on anything,'' Barrick said. ``Those logs are a crib sheet, a sham. We work hard and try to listen when people come in for information and there's no place on the log to show the work we've done.
There is no feud in the office, Barrick said, and if morale is bad, it's from awful working conditions. Magistrates work long hours in basement offices without clean restrooms or adequate breaks, she said.
Neely said the office needs to get internal strife under control because magistrates work in a stressful environment. They are in a position to decide instantly whether citizens will be arrested and jailed, or released.
``Anger can transfer to others who come before them helpless,'' Neely said. ``When you have power and influence over people, you don't want anger there.''
Barrick said internal conditions do not affect the public. ``There is no hostility with any magistrate toward the public,'' she said.
One positive aspect of the report, Neely said, was that the magistrates seem well-versed on law and criminal justice issues and seem to be treating police and defendants fairly, despite the office turmoil.
Neely said Barrick has not provided adequate oversight for record-keeping and is responsible for morale and personnel problems.
Barrick said, however, that magistrates certify and sign their logs as accurate and that her only responsibility is to audit reports.
Neely said only one of seven magistrates was accurately reporting activities, saying the others, including the chief magistrate, were inaccurate to varying degrees. Neely described one magistrate's reports as ``out of the universe.''
Olitsky said Thursday he was ``very much distressed'' but would not take any action until he received a written report from Neely the last week of April.
Magistrates operate independently, but they are political appointees and can be fired by the chief judge.
Olitsky said he began a preliminary investigation as soon as he received the oral report from Neely. He said he also plans to discuss the report with other judges.
``It's a situation that must be corrected and it falls upon me as chief judge to resolve the matter,'' Olitsky said. ``The entire situation is not very pleasant. I'm going to give this report a great deal of study and thought, and hopefully I will do the right thing for the citizens of Portsmouth and the judicial system.''
The most sensitive issue to arise in the investigation were allegations of racism, Neely said. Neely said he determined racism was not widespread in the office but was used as a tool in the feud between the chief magistrate, Barrick, who is white, and another magistrate, Deborah Clark, who is black.
But Clark said, ``I think there's racism. . . . There are double standards in the office. All I've ever wanted is for (Barrick) to treat me equally.''
Barrick said she knows of no racism in the office.
An investigation by The Virginian-Pilot indicated that Clark is reporting more hearings per hour - 5.77 - than any other magistrate in the state, a figure Neely has called ``ridiculous.''
Clark also reported conducting 10,388 hearings in 1995, compared to the next-highest in the office at 7,391.
Clark said Friday she had been poorly trained and that she had never been told of any problems with her statistics. She said there was no motive for her to overreport her workload.
``I'm going to get paid the same salary,'' Clark said. ``If I'm not keeping (statistics) accurately, then it's because of the way that I was taught, and it was never brought to my attention. How can you correct something if you're not aware of it?''
Neely's investigation also found that magistrates are keeping seven different unauthorized logs, some for other agencies.
Neely recommended as early as 1984 that some of the logs be discontinued. Those recommendations have been ignored, he said.
Neely said the extra paperwork formed ``the most extensive documentation system I've ever seen'' and said that some logs were kept solely to protect magistrates from criticism.
Barrick said Neely's investigation doesn't take into account what the office is doing well or the conditions.
``You couldn't believe what a magistrate goes through in a 15-hour shift. I wouldn't put any citizen through that,'' Barrick said. ``I'm honest and hard-working and I resent the criticism.''
Barrick, 70, has been a magistrate since 1977 and chief magistrate since 1983.
``They've forgotten when I worked two shifts for two years as chief magistrate and regular magistrate,'' Barrick said. ``No one remembers when I had an auto accident and wore a neck brace and worked 12-hour shifts for 17 days straight. Everyone's forgotten, but I haven't and I resent somebody putting me down now.''
KEYWORDS: PORTSMOUTH MAGISTRATES STATISTICS by CNB