Fremont Hall Of Justice

Just had my first juror experience and it was good from the get-​go. Security was fast and efficient, kind of old school airport security. I was directed to the elevator to the 3^rd floor by two pleasant ladies stationed at the end of security. Up in the juror room the clerk (I think his name was Kevin) was welcoming, friendly and efficient. In fact he was downright amusing a couple of times, letting us know it was okay to talk to each other, even sharing that if were in the Oakland court juror room we’d be in a crowd of around 400 (we were about 100) and that the majority of crimes tried in this court were not serious felonies. The court clerk and bailiffs were pleasant and helpful, the judge was personable, and efficient — he could almost have stood in for Judge Harry Stone from the TV show Night Court. Both prosecutor and defense councils went to great lengths to make sure we understood the concept of innocent before proven guilty, and that this was real life not a TV show. My overall impression was that at least in this case the US justice system is doing everything it can to fairly implement the law.

Fremont hall of justice? Justice for what!!!
No justice for the right lawful & hard working people who pay their taxes on time. We follow all the city rules and not act like straight outta Compton style, as a result we get fined for no legitimate reasons other than seeing this fraudulent city taking hard working money away from the good people. We get bent over left and right everyday and when we come to this place to seek justice, and guess what?
Let’s just say, not only we didn’t get our results but had to get scolded by these clerks and fake judge (local magistrate) to be in humiliation in public.
Bad people always win in this country so that’s the real justice there.

I don’t think the facility and sevices are as bad as the average review for this place. I got here around 8:15AM on a Monday morning, and sure there was a line to see the traffic clerk, but I only waited 20 minutes tops. It goes by faster than you think and there were multiple clerks to help everyone, sort of like a DMV if you’ve never been here before.
The clerk I got was extremely helpful and provided me extra forms and information!

I served on the jury for a 4 day trial here. I am glad that the trial was afternoon only, less stressful for me. The security checkpoint is necessarily unpleasant. If I have to be called in, I’ll always be happy it is at Fremont Hall of Justice. Another time, I went to observe some trials and found I was sitting close to an alleged shoplifter who was at least a friendly guy. One of the bailiffs came and asked what I was in for. I was only there to observe.
Now I have another jury summons that arrived after I received a deferment. Happily it came from the Fremont Hall of Justice. I would find it a profitable honor to serve in the event they end up wanting me. I never noticed it earlier, but the jury assembly room offers courtesy WIFI. I am so very pleased whenever the court system treats prospective jurors with respect! I never owned a smartphone until this past April; so I own a «Rookie» badge from Unilocal.If you might want me as a friend, it got pretty embarrassing for a while when I had «0» friends shown with my reviews.
Well, I was all ready to go at 11 a.m. but it came through that no jurors were needed for the 1 p.m. roll call.
Some other time I’ll tell about the time I went to Traffic School as the voluntarily-​enrolled companion of my now-​reformed wife who got a ticket.
Maybe I’ll have something cool, funny, and useful later on.

I love this place. It’s so terrible to be here it reminds you to try and be good, and if your bad, try and be as cool as possible to the officer who has you in custody and try and get the problem resolved so you don’t have to visit this place ever again.

The court does not allow for extensions on Trial by Written Deceleration. You have 25 days, which is lame since they don’t give you enough time to gather your evidence and perform discovery with the citing agency.
If you’re out of town like I was, you’re pretty much screwed.

These people are ridiculous. Right now I’m on the phone at number 34 in the queue. 20 minutes ago I was number 44. You seriously have to be kidding me.
…now an hour and 45 minutes and I’m number 10. I guess you need to take day off from work to talk to one of these mongoloids.
2 hours and 15 minutes… number 2… best customer service this side of Liberia.

Got a road violation ticket for stopping over the «Stop Sign» line in my vehicle on a sunny empty afternoon in 2014. The problem was more so weighted on the fact that I had surgery on my leg which is still not completely healed and as it turns out now it will never be. And in the moment of breaking I had severe pain throughout my knee region which compromised my braking. Try explaining that to an Alameda County Deputy Sheriff who rides a motor-​cycle around «Mothers of young children.»
It was clear and sunny. No pedestrians or anything suspicious in the works. In fact, the deputy was in the intersection the entire time. He watched me struggle with braking. He was not concerned about my health or what may have happen… so, he pulls me over we discuss the situation. He writes ticket — I plan on going to court scheduled for December 2014.
Months roll by and we are in court. I show up with a file that has my medical history and the complications in my right leg. Long story short the judge ruled in the officers favor in January 2015. Lesson learned…“There is no diversity in the Alameda Legal System, whatsoever.” I am left with the judgment of not only 330 dollars but also no changes were revealed in court when I became a licensed driver without any physical limitation. So now that things are different with me permanently, the rules for the road still remain the same… something about this is strange. Think about it, you can go to DMV and get a disabled parking tag, because you are disabled, but if you have a health issue the rules are not considered based on health issues? What if I had a heart-​attack and pushed up on a curb without damaging anything or anyone? Would the cop feel compelled to write a ticket, or would he or she use their judgment to share driver forgiveness? It doesn’t seem fair. In fact, I know its not. Not sure where I went wrong in court for the judge not to see my side of the story — because if she did, I am still in the same position i was before I crossed over the stop sign line.
This is a legitimate concern. More so, County of Alameda has no sense of the disabled people in their community! The railroad you and abuse their positions of authority. Where EXACTLY does 330 dollars go? At prices like this I should have been treated like a paying customer. When did citizens become customers anyway… The day the government became a thriving business. Feeling relaxed with irritation…

I came in at ²⁹⁄₁₂. The lady at front door is very helpful. I think there has been some changes.

Lol what an experience… the judge in dept 608 was the least bitchiest I’ve ever encountered and I’ve been in a lot of courts lol. She actually very fair. The biggest bitch in the court room is actually the court clerk… HE needs to take that dick out of his ass, go back to devry college, and become an attorney if he wants to have such a big ego. Most people that wear a shirt and tie and have an ego that big, dont wear air maxes with that shirt and tie lmao.

After being #24 in queue, some really self loathing clerk answers the phone, I tried to correct a fine I paid 4 years ago, which they reported to their unethical, psychotic collection agency alliance one as open again ?! She told me they had limited access to the collection agency info, then contradicted herself & told me I was rude (sorry skank, your dysfunctional customer service sucks) the collection agency works with the court to extort money from you. Keep all receipts, they wait for some years to pass & mysteriously lose any record you paid. I asked to speak to a supervisor & skankzilla hung up. Hah, this is where customer service goes to die. Enjoy those cut hours chica, you should moonlight at DMV. perfect fit.

This is a little long, but if you’re a first-​time juror, you might find this information useful:
The building is right across the street from Kaiser Hospital on Paseo Padre. But once inside, there were no signs saying what to do, or where to go. As soon as you walk in, immediately you see the weapons/​metal detector, I had no clue what to do first, and the officer there was no help whatsoever even as I was standing there looking clueless, I had to say, what do I do first? Ok… so grab any box on the shelf, empty all your pockets out, put the box on the conveyor belt, and then you walk through to the other side and collect your stuff.
After that, I’m looking clueless again… and NO SIGNS saying where to go for the jury gathering room. I approached a guy at the information desk, who finally directed me to the elevator to the 3^rd floor.
If you’ve never served before, the jury selection process takes forever! For us it was three days. The judge explained everything well, and the court room looked modern, updated, and comfortable. However, the jury gathering room on the 3^rd floor is a room with poor ventilation and no windows. And by the time everyone arrived, it was a packed room. There is free wi-​fi and the officer in charge gives you the password.
The acoustics are amazing, you could hear a pin drop, at least in dept 601. One thing annoyed me was the court clerk tearing off paper from the printer while someone was speaking, and even worse the Judge playing with a lozenge wrapper, I guess not realizing it was amplifying through his microphone.
Court convened from 2pm to 4:30pm monday thru friday, with a 20 min break inbetween. There is a TINY food concession on the 2^nd floor which I didn’t use which had pre-​made salads, sandwiches, coffee, hot dogs, and a few other things. Fortunately there are some cool restaurants directly across the street including Sweet Tomatoes (buffet), Pieology (pizza), The Counter (burgers), and a Raley’s Grocery Store with a deli inside.
Some good advice from the judge: be sure and come early each day of court by anticipating not only bad traffic, but possible long lines at the metal detector at the front door. If you’re late even 1 minute, you’re gonna get chewed out by the judge in front of everybody! It saw it happen only once.
And keep this in mind:
#1 cell phones that are turned on are not allowed in the courtroom. Turn your mobile device off BEFORE entering the courtroom, if the bailiff catches you with a phone in the ON position, it will be confiscated and you won’t get it back.
#2 don’t forget to place your juror badge on your shirt.
#3 have your cell or a watch OUTSIDE the courtroom because there are no clocks anywhere outside in the halls or even downstairs, not that I saw anyway. When the judge says, ‘be back here in exactly 20 min.’ you need to keep track of the time.

Employees weren’t very helpful.
One of the young ladies handling the community service program was very rude and unprofessional. She had a low cut shirt with her breast almost falling out and she asked me what type of work I want to do and I asked what types they had (I’ve never had to do this before and don’t know about any of the programs) she said ‘ummm…we have all kinds’ with attitude and rolling her eyes. Once I gave her some attitude she seemed to stop, please remember that your here to help to public, and without us YOU wouldn’t have a job and we don’t owe YOU anything so don’t treat us like we do.
The other young lady was nice and friendly. I think she was training.
I cant wait to finish my hours and not deal with this anymore…

This was a difficult day for me since I had a migraine, but the clerks & everyone around was was nice & understanding on my condition!
The judge gave out community service, adjusted fine or time frames for people to pay or take care of things before trials. It was a good day & besides the long wait in lines, everything went well. Have respect for the staff, listen & follow directions they tell you & your visit will go well also! :)

I came in here for a mandatory court appearance for a traffic violation. I ended up arriving around 7AM, with about 25 people ahead of me in line waiting to get in. Doors actually opened up at 8 to register for traffic court, at which point the order in which you came in doesn’t really matter, as traffic court proceeds in alphabetical order sorted by last name.
The judge was decently nice, so long as you weren’t an idiot and listened to the instructions that were provided at the beginning of the session. If you had a fix it ticket or insurance issue, she would usually dismiss those with a $ 25 fee if you plead no contest. For my particular violation, I was afraid I’d get community service along with a fine, but I lucked out (I guess?) with just a fine.
It wasn’t a great experience, but it wasn’t as horrible as a lot of other people on here make it to be. Clerks were nice and courteous as well.

Phuck you Pam in traffic courts and phuck your manager too!!! This place will suck your time, money and life away and they don’t keep records of ANYTHING!!!
She was rude, condescending and expecting me to figure out the information I was coming to her for. You people don’t send mail to anyone so how the fuck am I supposed to figure this shit out???
Customer service goes a long way and I’m surprised no one has busted through that plexi glass to choke her out for being so damn rude

Judge Karen Rodriguez in Dept 608 was rude and discourteous to everyone who went to traffic court that day, being impolite and making exaggerated facial expressions of exasperation. I will be filing a complaint against her.
She apparently has some sort of Napoleon Complex and probably believes she is above the law, which is why she can treat everyone like s***. I urge all of you to file a complaint against her as well if she was treating you bad. You can find a complaint form online, print it out and mail it.
Hopefully she gets reprimanded. I’ve had about as good of an experience as it gets with all the other judges, however.

Traffic Court Division
This review hopefully provides wisdom and set correct expectations.
You can read the essential bullet points.
1) Phone Number Correction: 510−818−7502
2) When to get there — before 6 AM.
I called. They said you don’t need to line up early. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Do not listen to the people on the phone. They are probably instructed to give an answer that seemingly serves the people and hides the fact the line wraps around between 6:30−7, making it uncomfortable for older folks.
I arrived at 6 AM. By 6:30−7, the line contained 30+ people. Look at the picture I uploaded.
My sister works across the street at Palo Alto Medical Center and she said there is a line every morning.
3) Process
They begin to let people in around 8:00 AM.
You go through security and get in another line to speak to somebody on the counter who will place you in the court queue.
You then go upstairs and wait until 9:30 to let you in the court room.
The judge is presented and then he/​she begins to process the cases. They go pretty quick. I was probably number 25, and was able to see the judge within the hour.
3) Don’t expect a voice or sympathy.
Though human nature believes there are certain circumstances that make or even demand allowances for mercy or a pardon, this is not true with traffic court. You have no real voice until you actually schedule a court date, and even then, you will most likely not win. Unlike our criminal or civil court, traffic court is designed to frustrate people, creating a system that consistently generates revenue for the cities.
When you see the judge, there are only 4 allowed responses:
Guilty
Not Guilty
No Contest
Traffic School
These are your only choices. If you can do it through the mail, then I would suggest you do so. If you want to do in person in hope that the judge will be understanding and will hear you out, maybe even give you a break, it won’t happen. Don’t expect this.
That is simply all the wisdom I can provide. You can stop reading now, but I’ll provide more details with my experience below.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — –
I got a ticket while picking up my mom at the BART station. My dad had passed away 3 days prior, and my mom and I were required to clean out my dad’s place. Neither my mom nor I live in Fremont. My mom took the BART and waited for the bus to arrive, but it never came. I told my mom to remain at the bus stop. I went to the BART station, saw her, and when I entered the bus area, I was immediately stopped and given a ticket by the BART police. The bus area disallows cars. I told the BART police person what had happened. With no sympathy, he said, «Maybe you shouldn’t be driving.» I told him that he was a «cruel man.»
I never really fight these tickets because it’s not worth my time and money. But because of principle (Who gives a person a ticket after their dad passed away? Moreover, who gives a person a ticket for entering the bus area of a BART station?), I was hoping to get a pardon from the judge.
The judge I saw was intimating, especially for somebody like me who isn’t familiar with the justice system. Overall, she’s not a nice woman. This is in essence my dialogue with her:
Her: What do you plea?
Me: Traffic School… May I ask a question?
Her: Yes
Me: Is there any circumstances where a person receives a pardon?
Her: Why?! Because you’re a nice guy?! I should let you off because you’re a nice guy?!
Me: My dad had passed away 3 days prior and I received a ticket while picking up my mom in the bus area at the BART station.
Her: Well, maybe the officer will have a different story! What do you want to plea?
Me: (Dejected) Traffic School
I went outside to receive my paperwork and was pretty upset. I can’t believe there was no condolences or something like, «I’m sorry for your lost. But the justice system requires that both you and officer be present to determine the case.» While I was outside, some folks that was there to witness the exchange said, «That’s messed up. (Referring to her treatment of me even after I told her my circumstances.)»
I was also told that paying taxes or traffic tickets is legal, but it’s not always right. In other words, the law doesn’t always correspond to doing the right thing. Though I’ve decided to go to traffic school, I still firmly believe that both BART police officer and this judge not only did the wrong things, but also are fairly hardened people, perhaps even more so than the so-​called hardened criminals. You have to be pretty hardened to disregard death.

Ugh I never had to go to any court until recently and I hope it’s the last for me. This review is strictly on my experience with the traffic clerk and judge.
I came here to verify a ticket I never received, the clerk was rude, obnoxious and a bitch. I’m very new to this process and the lady that helped me doesn’t seem to give a shit; I don’t think any of them do. The first bitch sent me off without any info on how to see a judge. So I came back in line and the second lady advised me on coming here as early as possible because they only take a certain number of first comers. At least she was somewhat helpful. I swear people who works for the county needs to get off their high horses, they act like they’re the shit!
The next day I took the lady’s advice and showed up at 5:30 and lo and behold there were crap load of people already in line. I guess this is the price to pay if you’re a criminal. There were a good 2 dozens people in front of me and the line kept getting longer as the minute goes on. If you’re here by 6:30, forget about it. Once you register your case with the clerk, there’s more waiting upstairs to see the judge. There’s only one judge for traffic violations and she’s ruthless. Don’t fall asleep, talk, or have your phone on– it will be confiscated. Most cases goes by pretty quick, if you ask dumb questions she’ll put you on the spot and make you feel like an idiot.
Overall, it’s not the worse thing I’ve ever experienced but who the hell likes going to court.

Recently got a speeding ticket driving on the 880. Went to the «walk-​in» traffic court a few weeks ago. Got there at around 7:45am and there was already a pretty long line. Even though they say they only take the first whatever number of people in line, seems that everyone was able to get in. There’s a parking lot so don’t have to worry about finding street parking. Other than that, I remember waiting around alot — waiting outside to get into the courthouse which opens at 8am, waiting to get into the courtroom which opens at 9am, waiting for my name to be called which took over 2 hours.
On the day I was there, this was the approximate breakdown of cases:
75% red light violations — mostly people that got caught on camera
15% speeding
10% misc other stuff — i.e. car modification, expired registration, expired drivers license, toll violation due to broken FasTrack, littering on the highway, HOV violation etc.
I’ve been to other traffic courts before and usually when someone pleads guilty, the judge tends to lower the fine. Not here. The only cases where the judge lowered the fine were for the cases related to car modifications/​license/​registration issues (ONLY if the person fixed the problem that they got the ticket for). If you got caught running a red light or speeding and plan to plead guilty, showing up to court will likely not decrease your fine. The judge in this courthouse does not give any breaks because you have a sob story –people told her they are unemployed, homeless, their mom died, owed money for other tickets, just arrived to the country so didn’t know etc. etc. and her typical response was «It still doesn’t change the fact that you ran the red light (or whatever), I’ll give you more time to pay… a month?» The most extra time she gave was 3 months.
I can only speak from my personal experience here based on one visit so take it for what it’s worth. But unless you plead not guilty and come back for a trial OR you need extra time to pay, it is probably easier to just pay online and save 4+ hours. I wish I knew this before waking up at 6:30 in the morning just to get there in time and then wasting my whole morning waiting around.