Statewide revamp raises the bar for magistrates

NORFOLK

Norfolk Magistrate Donald Friedman was holding court via a videoconference call from a police precinct to his sixth-floor office on Brooke Avenue. The man who appeared before him on the screen was not amused. Someone had stolen his credit card and racked up hundreds in charges.

The man had long suspected his roommate, but he had no proof. That was until a police detective told Friedman that he tracked down a videotape of the suspect making his last purchase - a bottle of orange juice.

Friedman found probable cause and signed an arrest warrant. He handled his business as usual, juggling calls from the City Jail and police precincts during his shift.

On Tuesday, the magistrate system underwent its most dramatic reorganization in three decades. The changes are designed to improve the way the state's more than 440

magistrates do their jobs, including setting standards to ensure uniformity.

Despite an early morning hiccup in the statewide computer system that prints warrants to remote locations, the long-awaited reorganization took shape without much notice Tuesday.

"It is going to be seamless," Friedman said.

The system has not witnessed such reforms since legislators replaced the elected justices of the peace with magistrates in 1974. The state's magistrates toil in obscurity, working in jails and police stations, in offices that never close. They are on the front lines of the legal system, independent voices who make decisions on everything from arrest warrants to orders of protection.

While the magistrates aren't judges, they perform duties that keep the system running. Last year, magistrates completed more than 1.4 million processes statewide, including issuing search warrants on criminal cases, determining bail and authorizing police to take custody of those deemed to be a danger to themselves and others.

Under the old system, magistrates were appointed by chief circuit court judges to four-year terms, yet they remained largely unsupervised. There were no standard qualifications for the job - backgrounds ranged from a sixth-grade education to a law degree - and magistrates were required to attend only 32 hours of basic training. They set their own work schedules and vacations in positions that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Under the revamped system, bachelor's degrees are the minimum educational requirement. Magistrates are supervised by the executive secretary of the Supreme Court. Like other court employees, the office will make management and personnel decisions, such as hiring and firing as well as work schedules.

Magistrates already on the job will receive training and must be recertified by 2010. They get a minimum of 24 hours of continuing education every two years and need satisfactory evaluations to maintain their certifications. New magistrates will receive four weeks of training and education.

"I think it is a good start," said Beth Turnbull, the chief magistrate in Norfolk. "Having more uniformity statewide is a good thing. "

The groundwork for the reforms began last year when a committee, led by now-retired Virginia Beach Circuit Judge Thomas Shadrick, identified problems.

Shadrick said that, in addition to ensuring greater supervision and accountability, the reorganization will provide magistrates with regional authority. Should there be a natural disaster that disrupts utility and computer service in Virginia Beach, for example, a magistrate in an adjoining city or county could handle matters.

Twenty new positions will be created, and legislators appropriated $8 million during the next two years to implement the changes. They did not fund salary increases, but Shadrick hopes legislators will tackle compensation in future General Assembly sessions.

According to state figures, magistrates' salaries ranged from $5,746 to $58,553.

"People don't realize the responsibility that the magistrates have and the duties they perform," Shadrick said. "We got the foundation laid now for revamping the magistrate system. It was way past time."

Duane Bourne, (757) 222-5150, duane.bourne@pilotonline.com