Parking Citation Payment Problems with the Sheriff's Office Not an Easy Way to Pay

Conclusions 6

• CL1
  No evidence could be found that a performance review of the contract was ever conducted.
• CL2
  2015-16 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury 4 PARKING CITATION PAYMENT PROBLEMS There is no option to pay in person or with cash.
• CL3
  Parking citations are not processed in a timely manner.
• CL4
  Some citations were sent to a debt collection agency even though payment was made within statutory guidelines as required by California Vehicle Code § 40207.
• CL5
  The most recent annual contract renewal with the vendor, CN13914, expired June 30, 2013.
• CL6
  The 2015-16 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury found that the parking citation processing system used by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department does not meet the need for timely processing of citations. The contract with the vendor has not been formally reviewed for performance compliance and expired in 2013. The out-of-date processing practices have resulted in late fees being assessed inappropriately. There is no ability to pay a citation in person or with cash. This expired contract needs to be reviewed and potentially renewed. Performance compliance by the vendor needs to be performed by the SBSO. Citations need to be posted in a timely manner to allow individuals the maximum amount of time to pay before a late fee is added. Procedures and infrastructure need to be established to give individuals a cash payment option. Finally, the SBSO needs to consider conducting a survey to identify other vendors who could provide superior citation processing services. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Finding 1 No evidence could be found that a performance review of the contract was ever conducted. Recommendation 1 That the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office conduct regular performance reviews of the parking citation processing contract. Finding 2 2015-16 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury 4 PARKING CITATION PAYMENT PROBLEMS There is no option to pay in person or with cash. Recommendation 2 That the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office, in recognition of the need of some citizens to pay in cash, initiate a mechanism to pay in person or with cash. Finding 3 Parking citations are not processed in a timely manner. Recommendation 3 That the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office develop procedures to ensure parking citations are processed in a timely manner. Finding 4 Some citations were sent to a debt collection agency even though payment was made within statutory guidelines as required by California Vehicle Code § 40207. Recommendation 4 That the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office develop procedures to ensure that parking citations paid within statutory timelines are not sent to debt collection agencies. Finding 5 The most recent annual contract renewal with the vendor, CN13914, expired June 30, 2013. Recommendation 5 That the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office enter into a new contract with a qualified vendor that will consistently process parking citations expeditiously. REQUEST FOR RESPONSE Pursuant to California Penal Code Section 933 and 933.05, the Jury requests each entity or individual named below to respond to the enumerated findings and recommendations within the specified statutory time limit: Santa Barbara County Sheriff - Coroner – 60 days Findings 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors – No Response Required 2015-16 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury 5

Observations 1

• OB1
  Online Citation Payments Parking citations can be paid online through a link on the SBSO website to the vendor’s online payment company. This company specializes in collecting law enforcement fees via the internet, similar to a payment processor such as PayPal™. The Jury learned from SBSO staff that they field phone calls on a daily basis from citation recipients unable to pay their fine online because no record of the citation can be found on the SBSO website link. The jury learned the vendor is not consistent in entering citation information into its database in a timely manner. In order to resolve this issue, the citizen must contact the SBSO staff who then need to manually check through their master citation list and follow up with the vendor to request a specific citation be entered. The vendor then enters this citation, usually within two to three days. In this age of internet availability, to revert to a manual verification is both time consuming and cumbersome. In some cases, when the citation cannot be found online by a citizen, it misleads the citizen into thinking that the citation has been voided and that they do not need to take further action, thereby risking late payment penalty fees and referral to collections. Citation Payments by Mail Parking citations can be paid with a check sent by mail directly to the vendor. The Jury, through interviews and documentation, found that payments can remain unprocessed at the vendor’s offices for days or weeks before the contractor processes the citation as paid. Even though checks have been mailed to the vendor within the statutory time, the Jury found they were not processed promptly and late fees were added. Attempts to resolve the issue of unprocessed checks involve an administrative review by a SBSO departmental supervisor, another manually intensive and cumbersome process. In the worst case scenario these paid but unprocessed citations can then be sent to a debt collection agency. Along with the risk of a citizen’s credit rating being affected which accompanies unpaid debt reporting to a collection agency, is the use of unnecessary SBSO staff hours and the risk to the reputation of the Sheriff’s office. Contract Renewal The SBSO has attempted to renew the contract but has been unsuccessful due to a lack of response to a request for insurance documentation from the vendor. This failure is compounded by a lack of follow through from the SBSO to obtain this documentation. Standard operating procedure within the SBSO is to transfer supervisorial officers from one division to another. This is an ideal process when grooming staff to move up the ladder and gain the necessary experience needed for promotion. However, this procedure can wreak havoc on small divisions of low priority. SBSO personnel, who looked into renewing the contract with the outside vendor, were not able to complete the assignment before being transferred to another department. 2015-16 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury 3 PARKING CITATION PAYMENT PROBLEMS No Option to Pay by Cash Cash is not accepted for payment of parking citations. Some citizens within Santa Barbara County use cash for all their business transactions. However, there is no way for these citizens to pay in person or with cash. This would allow the transaction to be documented with a receipt. Other Payment Processing Options The Jury learned there are other companies that provide parking citation payment services throughout the country that the SBSO could explore. Public Relations Issue With law enforcement under ever increasing scrutiny throughout the country, this low priority function when performed inadequately can tarnish the department’s reputation. Any contractor should be held accountable for its actions and the SBSO should ensure fulfillment of contract terms. The failure to correct problems in a timely manner creates a risk of adverse publicity for the SBSO. If someone’s credit rating is adversely affected by this flawed process, it is likely that it will be reflected as a black mark on the SBSO for failure to properly manage the process and could expose the county to potential liability.

Agency Responses 1

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.