the jail\u2019s<\/a> monthly bookings, is the only agency with a longstanding contract for county jail services. It pays the county about $9 million per year.<\/p>\nMost other arresting agencies already bring defendants to a municipal detention facility to see a magistrate before sending those who don\u2019t post bail to the Lew Sterrett Justice Center.<\/p>\n
![\"Dallas]()
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Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown speaks during a press conference at Dallas Police Headquarters on Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, in Dallas. (Elias Valverde II\/The Dallas Morning News)<\/p>\n
Elias Valverde II\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
But 31 police chiefs wrote Brown a joint letter Sept. 14 asking her to postpone the rule change until they can meet to discuss a litany of unanswered logistical and financial questions. She never responded to the letter or Carrollton\u2019s outreach in June and July, according to the petition.<\/p>\n
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Brown declined to answer questions from The Dallas Morning News Tuesday, citing the pending litigation.<\/p>\n
Carrollton has a holding facility with 21 cells, but it is not regulated by the state as a jail. It for decades has sent arrestees to Lew Sterrett for booking and magistration \u2014 about 1,500 per year, according to\u00a0its petition. Other cities have municipal judges in their holding facilities who set initial bail.<\/p>\n
Some agencies, like Dallas Area Rapid Transit police, don\u2019t employ judges or have a holding facility to bring arrestees for first appearance hearings. DART booked 230 people into the county jail in August, according to county data.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take our public safety responsibility to our riders and communities seriously, and this complicates our ability to be effective,\u201d a DART spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n
In her April letter to police departments, Brown said the sheriff\u2019s office is not legally responsible for taking custody of a person at the county jail until after the arresting agency has ensured a person \u201chas been properly and completely magistrated.\u201d She cited state law mandating a person be brought before a magistrate \u201cwithout unnecessary delay\u201d but no later than 48 hours after arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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In its petition, Carrollton alleged the county has a legal responsibility to take custody of people charged with a state crime. There is no law allowing sheriffs to charge municipalities fees for accepting, booking and arraigning arrestees, the city alleges.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Andrew Sommerman, an attorney, said he believes cities have the legal obligation to handle magistration hearings for people they arrest and cannot pass those costs on to the county. \u00a0<\/p>\n
To facilitate the process, he is proposing a centralized video magistration system for detainees to see a magistrate from Lew Sterrett while in municipal holding facilities for a fee. He said he plans to discuss proposed logistics and costs at a November committee meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the sheriff is saying \u2018we won\u2019t magistrate,\u2019 she\u2019s saying \u2018you have to pay if we\u2019re going to magistrate,\u2019\u201d Sommerman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brown previously declined to answer what prompted her jail intake rule change for the remaining agencies. But it came after Irving stopped holding first appearance hearings for most arrestees in May 2024, instead requiring them to go from its city holding facility to Lew Sterrett to be booked a second time before seeing a judge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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An Irving spokesperson said the change was made to \u201caddress overcrowding, enhance operational efficiency and ensure the safety\u201d of those held in the 172-person capacity city jail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The policy led to two federal lawsuits in April alleging Irving created unnecessary delays that violate detainees\u2019 constitutional rights and caused some to go more than 48 hours before seeing a judge.<\/p>\n
Before the change the city transported about 2,577 people from the Irving detention facility to Lew Sterrett in 2023, according to city data \u2013 in 2025, the first full year of Irving\u2019s limited magistration hearings, the city booked 4,358 people in the county jail.<\/p>\n
Lew Sterrett was 90% full on Tuesday, according to criminal justice department data.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Irving City Council in July directed its police department to begin holding first appearance hearings again, citing the impending fee proposed by the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
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In a statement to The News on Tuesday, Irving Police Chief Derick Miller said the 31 police chiefs are still asking for a pause on the Thursday rule change at the jail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal is to engage in productive discussions and work toward a solution that is fair, sustainable and appropriately reflects the responsibilities of all parties involved,\u201d Miller said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lew Sterrett Justice Center pictured in Dallas, Friday, July 8, 2022. Elias Valverde II\/Staff Photographer Dallas County Sheriff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-451597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}