For instance, a booking fee would require all people who are arrested and booked into the city jail to pay a charge, said Juan Lopez, the city’s jail administrator. State law currently allows police agencies to collect a fee from certain offenders as part of their probation fees, but the new program would open it to all offenders.
“Why should the taxpayers have to foot the bill,” Lopez said.
Councilman Ara Najarian brought up three weeks ago charging fees to people who are found to be at-fault in traffic accidents as a way to recover police costs. If the collision required additional police and staffing, the person who caused the accident would have to pay a fee, he said.
That idea is being considered by the Police Department to save costs.
Still, he acknowledged the accident fee likely wouldn’t generate a lot of money, or at least enough to save an officer position, Najarian said.
“I don’t think it’s going to bring in that much money, but it’s something that we are looking at,” he said.
The Police Department is also looking at expanding the city jail’s pay-to-stay program, which allows inmates from outside jurisdictions to pay a fee to lodge in Glendale’s cells. A judge must still sign off on the move.
The program would be expanded from weekend-only stays to all week, Lopez said.
The Police Department would also allow people who paid for the program to have the option to work while they are in jail, rather than remained confined to a cell, he said. That option also saves the department money since the inmates will be performing jailhouse duties, such as laundry.
The program would also open up to more non-serious offenders, Najarian said.
“Whenever we have empty jail cells, it’s lost revenue,” he said.
