Colorado Process Servers Uniting Against Industry Threats

• April 08, 2011
• by ServeNow Staff
• Associations

Steve Glenn has fun serving process, and it has proved lucrative for him. Getting paid to serve hard-to-locate people, and serving people whom others couldn’t … he says it’s a puzzle for him and he doesn’t like to lose. So, when he hears about things which could separate him from his fun and income, he doesn’t take it lightly.

Sensing the need for someone to protect the interests of process servers in Colorado and keep their livelihoods safe, Glenn recently founded the Process Servers Association of Colorado (PSACO). Glenn took the time to explain to ServeNow.com his motivations for building a state association from the ground up.

Motivation: Selfishness that benefits everyone

According to Glenn, his motivation to start the association stemmed from selfishness -- but in a good way. He explained there are two types of selfishness, and his type is one that is also good for his fellow Colorado process servers.

“I believe there are two types of selfishness. There’s selfish where it’s all about me, that’s bad,” Glenn said. “Then there’s a good selfish, where when you take care of yourself, you inadvertently take care of other people. I had this selfish need to protect my business, but in reality, other process servers and business owners will benefit from that.”

By starting PSACO, Glenn intends to protect his chosen profession from the backlash that occurs when service of process is carried out incorrectly by untrained and inexperienced process servers. He said he has been hearing stories of rookie process servers being trained to do illegal things such as jump fences, pick locks and use reverse peephole viewers to see inside residences. This gives the industry a black eye and opens the door for legislators to mandate obtrusive licensing laws, he said.

“I know there are some improper techniques being used by different process servers. Techniques which could get process servers hurt, killed or reprimanded by the court. If any of those things happen, it would cast a shadow over the entire industry,” Glenn said.

According to Glenn, the economy over the past couple of years has also created a treacherous situation in the process serving profession. He states people are getting laid off from their full-time jobs, then turning to process serving because they’ve heard there is good money to be made. They fail to get adequate training or education prior to taking their first assignments and sometimes set their fees far too low in order to gain clients. Due to their lack of training and understanding of the rules to properly effect service, some of these temporary process servers create problems within the industry and then return to their full-time jobs. After all is said and done, the true professional process servers are left to clean up the mess.

Learning from troubling events in other states

Glenn looks to other states for examples of what can happen when service of process goes wrong, causing the legal system to cast a disparaging eye on process servers. The most obvious case is New York City, where the discovery of blatant sewer service caused lawmakers to propose strict licensing and bonding requirements, as well as the requirement for process servers to use GPS tracking. Or in California, where a process server served the friend of a legislator at an odd hour of the night. The legislator proposed a law that said service of process could only occur between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Many states do not currently have notable associations to both, prevent misconduct and fight harmful legislation, which is something Glenn said he expects to change. The concerning thing he said, is that “instead of establishing associations to unite process servers against future threats, most states will simply wait until something disastrous happens.”

“I don’t think people look far enough into the future because what’s coming, if they look at New York, is people looking for scapegoats,” Glenn said. “I think a lot of them (associations) are going to start because of emergencies.”

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