Jury Commissioner of California (Bugs in the system)
Something happened to us today which is absolutely unacceptable. With no real way to fight back against the system, my only real recourse is to share my tale.
TLDR; They threatened my wife with jail time because of their mistakes.
but let me take a step back.
Few weeks back we got a Jury summons. It’s a summons for my wife, but I know they can be distractable, so I had set myself reminders to call in and check to clear my mind whether they had to serve. I found out they were also calling as they were instructed, so we both did this independantly. We called as instructed in the communications, we called on that Tuesday and they said Call back Friday after 5; So we did… they said call back Monday. On Monday the system says that you are excused and no need to appear… So we go along our lives unsuspecting of the crime that has just been commit… Week passes and we get this little slip in the mail claiming my wife had skipped out on duty and “did not appear as scheduled”
Of course my wife being a respectful citizen (terrified of this fucked up system inappropriately sending so many into prion) calls the Jury Commissioner’s office number to understand what happened… First it was discovered that they had sent out 2 notices with different badge numbers to 2 different addresses. We moved just shy of 2 years ago. We have voted, paid bills, paid Taxes, and of course updated our ID at the DMV a long time ago… They claim to my wife that “you were excused from the one that went to [the wrong address], but you should have shown up for the one that went to [the correct address].” Yes, you read that correctly. They pulled the same name twice and somehow assigned 2 different appearances to the same person with 2 different addresses.
First of all, I’m already baffled at this point; there is no contrition or acceptance of their fuck ups. After specifically asking them to fix whatever cause the bad address they did (claim to) fix it, but they were still harassing my wife
My wife explains that we did call and were told no action was needed. The lady on the phone threatens my wife with jail time, and bullies my wife into signing up to appear in court in a couple months. My wife is fine with how things went because they just want to avoid going to jail… I think this is some bull shit, and they need to figure out where they made the mistake and fix it so this doesn’t happen to many other people… You can bet I’ll be on the phone with them recording every word.
It’s all just left we with a sour taste in my mouth and a reminder of all the unpatriotic things this country constantly does… This kind of abuse of power is an echo of what my favorite repair man just went thru: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP3Hp2qUQdA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oY1jmYqiro
New York was chasing him around with a lien on his business (using a bad PO box in another state, and a misspelled business name) They were raising all these threats at him because of their mistakes.
I’m no longer comfortable interacting with any government agency without having my own recording going at all times now… They spread fear and they have no remorse and no accountability. Welcome to the modern America.
We need to hold these groups to a higher standard especially since they can and do make very real threats against individuals… We need better ways to audit these groups and keep them accountable for their mistakes and not allow the “sucks to be you, sorry, not sorry; can’t help you- I’ll transfer you now, goodbye!”