LARGO - Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats announced May 26 that due to required budget reductions, effective Tuesday, July 6, his office will no longer serve non-enforceable civil process.
In a letter from the Sheriff to all those concerned, Coats wrote, “Unfortunately, due to required budget reductions and recent reorganization within the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, the Court Processing Unit has experienced an elimination of both clerical staff and deputies serving process. As a result of these personnel reductions, effective Tuesday, July 6, 2010, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office will no longer serve non-enforceable civil process originated by private citizens or attorneys.”
The unit will be eliminating 17 deputies and five clerks saving about $2 million. Some of these positions are already vacated by attrition and will not be filled. The remaining affected members will be transferred to fill areas with a need for personnel that are essential to the Sheriff’s Office operation, mainly Law Enforcement and Detention/Corrections.
The final day the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office will accept non-enforceable civil process will be Friday, July 2. After July 2, anyone needing to have non-enforceable civil process served, can find a listing of private process servers at each of the Clerk of the Court Offices in Pinellas County and posted on the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office website at www.pcsoweb.com. This list will be updated monthly to keep it current as process servers are added and deleted.
This type of process is typically done by private individuals already, however, for many years the Sheriff has offered the service as well.
Non-enforceable civil process can be defined as those types of process which do not require a deputy to take action, and can be served by a private civil process server such as:
- Civil Summons / Subpoenas
- Summons for Claim of Possession
- Three Day Notice to Vacate
The Sheriff will continue to serve all process issued by a government entity; be it from county, state, or from out-of-state county and state government offices. The Sheriff will also serve all enforceable process which requires a deputy to take immediate action. Some examples include:
- A Levy
- A Replevin (which is a repossession)
- All Evictions
- Domestic Violence Injunctions
- Marchman Acts / Baker Acts
- Child Custody Pick Up
For more information or questions, call the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Public Information Office at 727-582-6221.
