January 6, 2009     Reported By: Keith McKeen

A policy directive issued to local police by Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson is drawing both criticism and mild support.  Anderson is hoping to  reduce a mounting caseload of traffic violations by having  police issue traffic tickets instead of court summonses to drivers whose licenses have been suspended only once.  Prosecutors throughout the state are exploring ways to overcome the financial squeze.

Cumberland County District Attorney Anderson told the Portland Press Herald her office is overburdened with an increase in cases at a time when state budget cuts have already affected her staff. Her goal is to reduce about 4 thousand minor cases per year.  Secretary of State Mathew Dunlap says he sympathizes with Anderson's situation.  But having police issue tickets in lieu of court appearances for operating after suspension, he says, may be a step in the wrong direction.  "Over the years the Legislature has taken a very, very long and judicious look at what cases should be prosecuted as criminal offense and which should be civil violations.  And that's really the purview of the legislature, not the perview of the district attorney as to which cases should be treated seriously enough to be brought to court and which should not."

In nearby York County, District Attorney Mark Lawrence says he understands the difficulty Cumberland County is facing.  Lawrence says he own caseload also continues to climb.  "We are just approximately only I think about 300 cases or 500 cases behind what Cumberland County did last year.  I think they were at 14,700, we're at 14,200."

Lawrence says the volume of criminal matters along with budget cuts have put district prosecutors under intense pressure. The DAs are funded by both the state and counties they serve. Lawrence says a York County budget hearing this week will focus on a significant reduction in an already stretched criminal prosecution budget.  "To give you some perspective, per case the amount of money I get to prosecute each case is probably about $215 per case to prosecute.  And that's not a lot of money to pay an attorney, to pay court staff, to pay all the computers and all the other stuff you need."

Lawrence says he has no plans to follow the lead of Cumblerland County's Stephanie Anderson.  But he says the county's police departments are also looking for alternative ways to approach the increasing case load. Kennebec County Sheriff Evert Fowle agrees.  Fowle says his resources are stretched to the point where he's had to drop a crucial juvenile program.  "And we've had to scramble.  I've withdrawn from the juvenile drug court because I lost my juvenile prosecutor, and I didn't want to do that, but all of us are flat out straight and we need to make the most efficient use of our resources."

Michael Povich, who has served as District Atttorney for both Hancock and Washington Counties since 1973, says he currently has adequate staff to handle the cases before him.  But Povich says if he's forced to layoff or furlough employees, he might be forced to take steps similar to those taken by Stephanie Anderson. "Stephanie may very well have to be the path-finder for what the rest of us may have to do, not because we want to do it, but because of funding levels and layoffs."

But State Senator Bill Diamond has mixed reactions to the Cumberland County District Attorney's approach.  The Windham Democrat was a sponsor of Tina's Law adopted in 2006. It was named after Tina Turcotte of Scarborough who died when her car was struck by Caribou trucker Scott Hewitt who had more than 60 driving violations. "I understand the need to make some adjustments because of budgets, but I would be very concerned if this started happening around the state because it wouldn't take long for that to creep into the entire heart and soul, if you will, of Tina's Law."

Michael  Povich says he's been pondering other approaches that could be taken to deal with tight budgets. They include what he calls a diversion program where perpetrators of minor driving violations would be summonsed long before they're due in court. If they pay a fine or otherwise clear up the problem before the court date, the charge would be dropped. Cumberland County's Stephanie Anderson reports that operating after suspension cases in Cumberland county jumped from 1,759 to 2,725  between 2005 and 2007. Anderson was unavailable for comment before air time.