Where did all the Justices of the Peace go?

Justices of the Peace want a night court for Vegas. Prosecutors want the Justices of the Peace to change their schedules.

The Las Vegas Sun reports:

On weekday afternoons, most of the courtrooms of Las Vegas’ 10 elected justices of the peace are among the quietest areas of the Regional Justice Center — a stark contrast to the heavy pedestrian traffic jamming those courtrooms before the lunch hour.

Most of the justices of the peace, whose salaries range from $128,700 to $154,440, simply don’t hold court after lunch each day — a pattern courthouse officials and those who work with them acknowledge has become the norm.

“If you’re trying to get a search warrant signed in the afternoon, the Regional Justice Center is not the place to go,” said Chris Collins, executive director of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, the union that represents Metro Police officers. “You have to go find the justices of the peace wherever they are.” Collins said he was unsure where that typically is.

The Justice Courts stand empty in the afternoons even as court officials lobby to build a new tower of courtrooms near the 17-story Regional Justice Center — at an expected cost well over $200 million. New space, the officials say, is needed to accommodate a mounting caseload.Las Vegas Justice Court, which is a step below District Court in the state judicial system, is to add two judges in January. The plan also involves adding ­two courtrooms expected to cost at least $1.5 million each.

Far be for me to not criticize Vegas judges, but don't the Justices of the Peace need time to prepare for a full schedule of court the next day? Maybe the reporter should have checked with some of the Justices of the Peace and asked how they spend their afternoons.

I love a good scandal, but this isn't even a tempest in a teapot until either party takes the next step. It's just a half assed reporting job.