Keeping sufficient funds in the parish’s Off-Duty Witness Fund appears to be a complicated, revolving and escalating issue in Webster Parish.

The special fund is designed to compensate law enforcement individuals who have been subpoenaed to testify in court while off duty.

In regards to Webster Parish, the police jury is responsible for distributing these funds to the proper agencies.

The fund runs off court costs for a statutory payout amount of $50 per subpoena per day, not to exceed $150 a day regardless of the number of cases for which the off-duty individual is required to be present or whether he or she actually testifies in the case.  

Because many of those who appear in court fail to pay court cost and fees, the witness fund has been coming up short for some time, causing the payout amount to fluctuate.

Due to the shortage in funds, law enforcement employees have been receiving dollars less than the amount set by law, never recovering the balance, which creates an even bigger problem.

In reference to Webster Parish, reportedly, the judges of the district are mandated to adjust the schedule of court costs as necessary to ensure that the proceeds are adequate to fully pay the witness fees of off-duty officers.

Currently, the court costs register in at roughly $111.

Even if court costs are raised, it is not guaranteed that all those ordered to pay court costs will dole out the funds.

“Currently, there are not sufficient funds to pay the invoices of off-duty witnesses,” said Attorney Patrick Jackson, Webster Parish Police Jury’s legal counsel.

Some law enforcement employees say the roughly two-year-old parish-wide issue is a Catch 22.

“Before we ever see our off-duty witness pay, we already know we will not be receiving the full $50 for each subpoena, not to exceed $150 a day as ordered by law,” said a source, who preferred not to be named for employment purposes. “But we have no control over it happening and it is not our responsibility to worry about how we are going to get paid, especially when we are subpoenaed and the law says we are to be paid a set amount of 50 bucks for each summons up to $150 a day, but most of the time we are only paid between $25 and $36 for each one. And that only comes about every six months.”

Currently, after receiving off-duty witness funds, the police jury calculates the payout amount for each law enforcement individual who has turned in invoices by the total amount of money in the fund and the number of invoices submitted. Reportedly when there is not enough money in the fund the payouts are based on an average figure.

The funds are divided equally among those who have served as off-duty witnesses according to the number of times they have served.  

However, the jury cannot pay out what is not collected and the parish can’t collect what those responsible for court costs do not pay.

Press-Herald calls to confirm the amount with the Webster Parish Police Jury were not returned.

Reportedly, there is no legal basis for partial payouts and/or wiping out the balance owed per invoice per individual.

“What is the legal basis for giving them pro-rata? There isn’t any,” Jackson said.  “The problem is the law says the money can only be paid from that fund. So, when there is not enough money, you either pay half the people all their money and the other people get nothing or pay all the people a part of their money. So we chose to do the latter. It’s a complete consensus, not any kind of legal theory.”

Under a revised Louisiana state law RS 15:255, each law enforcement agency requests funds from the Witness Fee account for the aggregate amount owed to all of its employees for witness fees for the preceding month. In turn, the parish will then issue a single check from the witness account to the law enforcement agency in that aggregate amount.  The law enforcement agency will then pay the officer directly through its normal payroll process and perform all applicable W-2 withholding and reporting.

 “Specifically, it is not lawful for the police jury to use any money from the Criminal Court Fund or the General Fund to pay for any shortages in the Off-Duty Witness Fee Fund,” Jackson said.  

Despite the solution-seeking efforts of local officials, this problem goes beyond court costs, as some of these nonpaying individuals are ordered to serve jail time, which creates further financial burden on the pockets of parish taxpayers.

“This does not help the taxpayer,” said Webster Parish Sheriff Gary Sexton. “So how do we solve this problem?”
Some local law enforcement agencies claim that they are owed thousands of dollars in back pay.

Reportedly, neighboring Bossier Parish is not experiencing the same problem as Webster Parish.

“Bossier does not have these problems because agencies pay their officers to go to court,” Jackson said. “In Webster, however, most agencies make their officers attend court on their off time, which creates a greater need for these funds than in other parishes.

“In Bossier, there is a surplus because few officers ever go to court on their off days. ,” Jackson continued. “The pro-rata pay system is the one that we came up with to try to get the officers some money.  Before the law changed, the police jury was able to make up the difference, but they are no longer able to do so.”

Under the current revised law, the witness fund cannot be replenished by way of any other source, specifically the general fund.

Prior to the recent change in the law, off-duty witness fees were paid from the Criminal Court Fund – a fund managed by the police jury and holding funds generated from fines, fees and forfeitures of criminal defendants.  When fines, forfeitures and fees generated by criminal defendants were insufficient to pay the mandated costs of running the criminal courts in Webster Parish, the police jury made up the difference from its General Fund.  

“For many years, the Criminal Court Fund has always run a deficit and substantial funds from the General Fund were and are used to make up the difference,” Jackson said. “One of those costs that were paid from the Criminal Court Fund were fees for off-duty officer witnesses.”

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