©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| New Group Wants Tougher Laws for Assaults to Professional Process Servers |
(IRN)-The Illinois Association of Professional Process Servers, newly established, has three goals for the organization: Push for tougher penalties for attacking a process server; encourage mandatory training and certification for process servers; and, ask for uniform laws on the status of process servers.
IAPPS vice president Bill Clutter, who is a private investigator in Springfield, says anyone who is a process server knows that, at times, "It can be a risky occupation." He says one of his agents was nearly choked to death by a man who refused to accept service, and Clutter cites a case in Southern Illinois in which a man poked a server and shot into the air in order to scare her off his property. Clutter says state lawmakers should make it a felony to attack a process server, offering more of a deterrent than the current misdemeanor.
As for training and certification, Clutter says he's concerned about stories from other states that indicate that process servers are forging signatures, improperly serving summons, and losing documents. He says while private investigators are trained in the process, other servers are assigned by the courts and not thoroughly trained. He'd like lawmakers to require training and certification, which would be handled by Clutter's group.
Finally, Clutter wants every county to have the same rules on who can serve papers without a judge's approval. He says Cook County requires extra paper work that a judge must approve before a private investigator can serve papers. He says that will save time and effort.
IAPPS was officially launched last week. President Dan Schroeder said, "We want our agents to be courteous, professional, and above all, honest."
(Illinois Radio Network) |
|
| 11 09 10 by Newsroom |
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
