The first Community Court in the state begins this Wednesday, January 9, when the Seventeenth Circuit holds its first docket at City Hall in Fort Lauderdale, beginning at 10:00 am. Community Court is a program that addresses the needs of at-large, homeless, petty crime and municipal ordinance offenders. It will focus on the root causes of each defendant’s issues, applying appropriate therapeutic and community service based punishments. Participants must choose to take an active role in their rehabilitation, and have numerous community resources available to help them achieve success.

Eligible crimes to be considered in Community Court include trespassing, disorderly conduct, open container violations, panhandling, etc. Community Court dockets will be heard once a week, every Wednesday, at City Hall. Additional locations may be established in time.

Judge Frank Ledee was sworn in today, December 18, by Judge Kenneth Gillespie. Judge Ledee is one of 10 new judges coming on to the Seventeenth Circuit bench. He will be presiding in the Circuit Civil foreclosure division.

Congratulations and welcome to the bench, Judge Ledee.

Members of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit’s judicial assistants association held a toy drive for the holidays, delivering donated gifts and toys to children at a local area hospital last week. Several members of the group helped transport and distribute the goodies to some very happy children.

Eleven new Traffic Hearing Officers were sworn in last week, adding to the existing team that assists the Seventeenth Circuit’s County Court Judges with the ever increasing civil infraction caseload. Thousands of municipal parking and traffic violation cases are heard in Broward County monthly. The Traffic Hearing Officers hear cases in all four courthouses in the county.