Request By:
Mr. Michael E. Caudill
Warren County Attorney
431 1/2 East 10th Street
Bowling Green, Kentucky 42101
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Warren County has a problem relating to the Barren County Juvenile Detention Facility. The facts and question are as follows:
"Warren County has an arrangement with Barren County whereby Warren County uses the Barren County Juvenile Detention Facility for the detention of certain juveniles. Often times the City Police Department of Bowling Green, a second class city, arrest a juvenile and our District Court Judge orders that the "Juvenile City Police Officer" transport said juvenile to the detention facility in Glasgow.
"Recently the District Court was advised by the Chief of Police that they would not abide by the District Court Judge's order to transport the juveniles outside the city's limits. My question is must the City Police obey an order of a District Court Judge ordering the City Police to transport a juvenile offender to a detention facility outside of the county when the City Police initially arrested the juvenile offender? "
As you know, we concluded in OAG 78-530 that where your county does not have an adequate detention center, your county may resort to juvenile detention centers in other counties.
Under KRS 24A.140(1)(a), when sessions of district court are held in the county courthouse, as is the case in Warren County, the sheriff shall be responsible for attending court, keeping order, and providing the same services to district court as are provided to the circuit court.
The sheriff, or deputies, are required generally to wait on the courts of justice and must obey the orders of the court. KRS 70.140, and
Cornett v. Chandler, Ky., 307 S.W.2d 918 (1957). See KRS 441.500(1)(c), requiring the sheriff to transport prisoners from one detention facility to another and to the courts.
The county's responsibility for a detention center for juveniles either in the county jail [see KRS 67.080(2)(b) and 67.083(3)(p), and 67.130] or in a separate detention center [KRS 208.130(1)] is well made out in those statutes. The reasonable construction of those statutes means that the county is responsible for the costs of transporting juveniles from Warren to Barren County. See
City of Fulton v. Shanklin, 275 Ky. 772, 122 S.W.2d 733 (1938).
It is our opinion that the district court in Warren County must call upon the sheriff, or his deputies, and it is not the responsibility of the city police to transport juveniles to the Barren County Detention facility. The sheriff is required to be amenable to the court's orders in that connection, pursuant to KRS 24A.140 and 70.140.