Resources

Justice and Courage Oversight Project
Resource Committee
September 17, 2003
1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
MINUTES

Location:  Adult Probation Department Conference Room, 850 Bryant Street, room 200, San Francisco, CA

Present:

Caroline Donnola – Department on the Status of Women
Justine McGonagle – Department on the Status of Women
Joe McFadden – Police Department (DVRU)
Cynthia Alexis - District Attorney’s Office, Victim Services
Carol Bernard – Emergency Communication Department
Susan Fahey - Sheriff’s Department
Art Faro - Adult Probation Department
Beverly Upton – Domestic Violence Consortium

Call to Order

Meeting called to order 1:35 p.m.

Adoption of 9-17-03Agenda

Agenda adopted by vote.

Approval of Minutes of 8-12-03Meeting

Motion made to adopt minutes from previous meeting made. Minutes approved.

Quorum issue discussed and will be further researched with other committees.

Report on Meeting of the Chairs (ICCC)

The Interdepartmental Communication and Coordination Department (ICCC) recommending to Oversight panel using the Premise Hazard/Information File in the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) System to identify the location of potentially dangerous locations. 

There was discussion about the issue between misdemeanor charges versus felony charges for domestic violence cases and if this should this be identified as a continuing offense as outline in the Penal Code. This debate regarding the misdemeanor charging to be discussed further on October 14, 2003 from 2:30 to 4:30 at the next ICCC meeting at 25 Van Ness. Meeting site will be announced when a room is secured. Members are encouraged to attend.

Review Questionnaire on Departments’ Current Domestic Violence Training

A questionnaire regarding the impact of recent budget cuts on training was discussed. 

The Adult Probation Department gave a report on their completed questionnaire. Training resources and lack of resources due to cuts in budget discussed in length during presentation. Training requirements also discussed per questionnaire responses.

The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department reported cutbacks and program funds they lost recently.  Alternative resources to fill behind the gaps due to the cuts also discussed. I.e. Instead of using STC money for training, the Sheriff’s Department could also use Police Officer Standard Training (POST) money for training of sworn officers. Training requirements also discussed during presentation per questionnaire response.

The SFPD training is still intact despite budgetary cutbacks. Role call training of officers and per departmental bulletin still occurs. POST budget for training officers in advance training still available. Some money was cut for traveling to outside jurisdictions for training but training process continues. SFPD STEP training for officers who are seeking promotions continues. Deputy Chief for Investigations is requiring more in house training. This process requires new promotions to undergo training in different bureaus prior to receiving a permanent assignment in an investigations bureau. This is somewhat like a FTO training program for inspectors. Process lasts two months. High workload issues and workload distribution issues still an issue in the DVRU unit. Job responsibilities are higher now than in the past. New officers still required to receive 16 hours of DV related training. DVRU Inspectors and staff from the District Attorney’s Office teach the classes at the academy. Grant money was recently given to SFPD to follow-up on filed cases and cold cases. Some POST training money was lost in the area of new academy classes.

Due to time issues, other departments were not able to give responses per the questionnaire. The Department on the Status of Women will receive all questionnaires from department representatives and compile them for committee members.  Departments represented were asked to electronically send questionnaire responses via via e-mail, fax, or mail to DOSW.

Proposal that the Committee could develop would center around “lost training money” Possibility would be a grant writer to identify training money and resources for the domestic violence response community. The proposal will be made to replace lost training funds.

Next Meeting

Next meeting scheduled for October 9, 2003 at 1:30 to 3:30.