Oversight_Panel
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 JUSTICE AND COURAGE OVERSIGHT PANEL
MINUTES
January 20, 2004
City Hall, Room 416
9:00am – 12:00pm
Oversight Panel Members in Attendance
Co-Chair Dorka Keehn, Commission on the Status of Women (COSW)
Co-Chair Susan Leal, City of San Francisco Treasurer
Belle Taylor-McGhee, Department on the Status of Women (DOSW)
Ken Theisen, Bay Area Legal Aid
Beverly Upton, San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium
Manuel Vasquez, Department of Public Health
Beverly Green Simmons
Barbara Brooten Job
Call to Order and Roll Call
The meeting was called to order by Co-chair Susan Leal at 9:15 a.m.
January 20, 2004, Meeting Agenda
January 20, 2004, meeting agenda adopted.
Order of agenda items will be changed, pending arrival of Co-chair Keehn.
October 22, 2003, Meeting Minutes
October 22, 2003, meeting minutes adopted.
Committee Updates
Quita Keller, chair, of the Interdepartmental Committee and Coordination Committee (ICCC) presented an update of the ICCC. Ms. Keller stated that the ICCC had met last on November 20, 2003. At this time the ICCC worked on further clarifying the process of submitting recommendations and also expressed concern over too many sub-committees being created by the Oversight Panel, further complicating the process. Ms. Keller stated that committees are working on recommendations as they are submitted and once the recommendations are received they are either sent back if more work is needed or approved by the ICCC and submitted to the Oversight Panel, which was the process approved by the Oversight Panel.
Data Collection Committee
Ms. Rosario Navarrette, DOSW, presented on behalf of Oli Sadler and the Data Collection Committee. The Committee is going through the case management systems to ensure that domestic violence data in the systems can be collected. (Tab 6) Departments will report if information is currently contained, where missing, and how to pull this information to produce an annual report. Ms. Navarrette commented on some of the challenges of the committee such as difficulties in the consistency of committee makeup due to changing departmental representatives. Ms. Navarrette stated that Lieutenant Mike Connolly from the Police Department, Domestic Violence Response Unit (DVRU) will be attending the Data Collection Committee meetings. Ms. Navarrette stated that at the last Data Collection Committee meeting, individual responsible for CLETS system came to the meeting and presented an overview of the system and the authority of working with other law enforcement partners. This discussion was held in response to the District Attorney’s Office (DA) request that each computer in their office have CLETS on it. The State Department of Justice is currently in the process of changing the system to make it compatible to PC systems and the old system is being slowly eliminated. Henry Shishmanian authorizes each of the locations of the CLETS machine. Ms. Navarrette noted that the District Attorney’s Office did not know that when a terminal is moved the authority to operate CLETS does not move with the terminal. The DA’s office went from 28 operating terminals to 9 and this number includes terminals in Juvenile Hall. Ken Theisen asked if there was any estimate when they will have 28 terminals again and if this adequate. Ms. Navarrette said that there is a request for 200 additional software devices. The Department of Justice is waiting to transition and when this is done the DA’s Office will need to purchase the software. Ms. Green-Simmons asked if there is funding. Ms. Navarrette stated that she did not know the status of the DA’s Office funding for this.
Mr. Manuel Vasquez commended DOSW existence of the domestic violence reporting requirements.
Protocol Committee
Ken Theisen presented for the Protocol Committee. Mr. Theisen stated that in November, 2003, there was a report given from the Police Department, DVRU. Mr. Theisen stated that the Police Department continues to have 13 full-time inspectors when they should have 20. He also stated that they only have 1 advocate working when they should have five as outlined in the Justice and Courage Report recommendations. Mr. Theisen stated that he is concerned about the lack of representation from the Police Department at the committee meetings.
Ms. Rosario Navarrette stated that she met with the Lieutenant Mike Connolly of the DVRU. Lt. Connolly stated there are limited resources for inspectors to attend community meetings due to a large caseload. Their priority is to attend to the caseloads. Ms. Navarrette stressed the importance of the Police Department’s participation in the Justice and Courage committees. The Lieutenant informed Ms. Navarrette that he will be attending the Justice and Courage meetings.
Ms. Theisen discussed some of the issues presented in the Sheriff’s Department meeting. He stated that the Protocol Committee learned from the Sheriff’s Department presentation that defendants are being released and in some cases given a court date but not a court room where to report to and often miss their court dates. The Sheriff’s Department will try to ensure that everyone released from the jail will know where they need to be. Mr. Theisen raised another problem uncovered which is that misdemeanors are being scheduled by the court for the next hearing a week or more away. This poses a problem with Emergency Protective Orders (EPOs). EPOs are only good 5-7 days from date to issuance. The EPO then expires before the perpetrator goes to the first hearing where the individual will probably receive a criminal Stay-Away Order. The perpetrator is therefore able to speak to the victim prior to the court hearing. This affords them the opportunity to talk the victim out of cooperating with the prosecution and the possibility of even more violence. Mr. Theisen stated that this is a court related problem.
In January, Sharon Woo of the District Attorney’s Office presented on the DA’s domestic violence protocols. She will continue in the March meeting. At the February meeting the Protocol Committee will continue to hear the Sheriff’s Department’s presentation.
Ms. Taylor-McGhee asked about the issue of the EPOs requested by the Police Department.
Mr. Theisen responded that officers are supposed to inform victims of their right to get a civil restraining order. The theory being that during the 5-7 day period the EPO is in effect, the perpetrator would be seen in court and a Stay-Away Order would be obtained. The remedy would be a longer EPO effective time and the temporary solution is to get criminal courts to schedule court dates in the 5-7 day period. This is a misdemeanor specific issue. Felonies are happening during the 5-7 day period because of the 72 hour limit for rebooking. Felonies are happening during the 5-7 day period because they are required to by law. Victims are under the false belief that perpetrators will be in court and will have a civil restraining order against them. Mr. Theisen stated that half of the clients his organization sees will not have a restraining order by the time the EPO expires. Mr. Theisen stated that legislation needs to be changed and the courts need to be addressed regarding this issue.
Belle Taylor-McGhee suggested that the Oversight Panel take this issue on or have one of the committees take it on. She stated that having data on how many expire during this period would help facilitate on this issues.
Ken Theisen stated that at this time we cannot tell how many EPOs are issued, let alone expired.
Beverly Upton stated many domestic violence cases are being taken to trial resulting in Department 13 becoming clogged. One solution is to pull out the long cause hearings and trials out of Department 13. In the past, there were approximately 13 offenders going through Department 13 on an average day and now there are only often two. While in favor of a Domestic Violence Court and having it extended from a half day to a whole day, the domestic violence community is now seeing more cases go to trial.
Ken Theisen stated that many of the problems are within the courts and this affects many of the other departments.
Ms. Navarrette suggested that conversations with the courts should begin and that the Oversight Panel could provide pressure and submit a letter to the courts regarding these matters.
Co-chair Leal asked the clerk for an action item for a letter to the Courts to sign off at the next meeting on this issue.
Ken Theisen suggested the courts make a presentation to the Protocol Committee and would like to recommend scheduling the court’s presentation prior to some of the other presentations because they are central to so many other departments.
Resources Committee
Caroline Donnola, DOSW, presented on behalf of the Resource Committee. Ms. Donnola reported that the Resource Committee is focusing on the fact that most City departments have lost most of their funding for training. The Committee put forth a recommendation to ICCC requiring each department in the recommendation to have a training manager attend a meeting to discuss possible cross training. The training managers together will find out more about training needs and try to create a plan to compensate for the losses. One of the largest problems is loss of overtime pay to allow time for training. At the Sheriff’s Department, they go in to a “lockdown” process so officers can receive training while on the job. Ms. Donnola stated that the main resource is at the Police Department, which didn’t lose training monies. Training managers from the Police Department stated that with careful planning, there is room for five – ten people to attending its classes. The Resources Committee will come up with a proposal for them to proceed. A short-term plan can help with some of the problems, but FY 2004-2005 may have its own problems with training resources. Ms. Donnola stated there is also the issue of how many people can be removed from their day-to-day duties to go to trainings. Ms. Donnola also stated that the DA’s Office has different requirements with regard to training. The DA’s Office must come up with a sum of money to send new attorneys (who haven’t been through domestic violence training) to Southern California for it.
Mr. Theisen stated to his knowledge there are very limited training provided by community-based organizations to City departments. Often his organization trades on trainings and utilizes other creative training options. Ms. Donnola extended an invitation to Mr. Theisen to attend one of the Resource Committee meetings. Ms. Taylor-McGhee asked if there was a compilation of funds for domestic violence trainings lost in the last year to come up with a lump sum. Ms. Taylor-McGhee would like a written understanding from the Police Department committing to host these trainings. Co-chair Keehn stated that it was her understanding from two years ago that community based organizations were going to be involved in Police trainings again. Ms. Upton stated that this has not happened.
Oversight Panel Terms and Outreach
Co-chair Keehn asked about the Oversight Panel members’ individual commitments for the year 2004-2005. Co-chair Keehn asked if anyone would like to end their term at this point. Ms. Beverly Green-Simmons stated that the remaining funding for the Greenbook initiative will be utilized and she will not be continuing with the Greenbook initiative since her contract has ended. Ms. Beverly Green-Simmons will have to see what her other commitments are and will get back to Co-chair Keehn by the end of January. Co-chair Keehn stated she would like the Oversight Panel to get an update on the Greenbook. Co-chair Keehn stated that she has spoken with Patti Chang and she will be committed to help with the foundation and her ability to attend the meetings are limited, but she is interested in continuing to participate. The remainder of the Oversight Panel members recommitted to serving one more year.
Co-chair Keehn stated that the Oversight Panel is looking for a Filipina woman to sit on the Panel. Co-chair Keehn asked Oversight Panel to send her any recommendations on either the Oversight Panel’s work or recommendations for a new Panel member. Mr. Theisen suggested that if they cannot find a Filipina woman for the Panel they should expand their search to include someone from the Asian community. Belle Taylor-McGhee suggested putting together a small piece for ethnic papers to solicit membership. Beverly Upton suggested approaching Leni Marin, Chick Dabby, Dean Ito-Taylor, Beckie Masaki. Co-chair Keehn asked if they had received any responses from the email sent out. Beverly Upton and Beverly Green-Simmons stated they had not.
No Public Comment
JUSTIS Update
Co-chair Keehn presented an update on JUSTIS. She stated the budget submitted to COIT was approx. 1.5 million. Sources of funding was a rollover of approximately $560,000 and additional funding $959,000. Current issue is that there is a carry forward of $470,000. The board is looking at the funds during the budget crisis. Co-chair Leal asked why there was a carry forward on the money. Co-chair Keehn did not know why, but stated she knows the money has always been there. The money is on a committee reserve and the JUSTIS Governance Council must go before the Board of Supervisors Finance Committee and request the reserve funds be preserved. Co-chair Keehn stated that Homeland Security funds originally believed available are not. Co-chair Keehn stated that Mr. Gregg Lowder is no longer overseeing the project. Murlene Randle will be taking over the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice with two less staff. Belle Taylor-McGhee and Co-chair Keehn will be meeting with Ms. Randle. Co-chair Keehn stated that the domestic violence module appears to be a last thought of departments and therefore a last part of the system to be implemented. Due to the change of administration and newly elected Mayor, the JUSTIS January meeting was cancelled. Ms. Taylor-McGhee stated she would like to encourage the Oversight Panel, as they meet with City officials, to state that the commitment to have the domestic violence module needs to be emphasized and to not have it would be going back on an earlier agreement made by the Mayor. She stated that City departments must therefore make a financial investment to having this module. Co-chair Keehn stated that Mayor Newsom has a policy brief around domestic violence taken directly from the Justice and Courage Report. She stated that the Mayor is committed to implementing JUSTIS.
Public comment given by Oli Sadler, DTIS and Co-chair of the Data Collection Committee. She commented there are systems that have gone live and are able to be shared; Adult Probation and the DA’s Office. This year the Public Defender and the Court will be live. An RFP went out for the Sheriff’s Office and the Police Department; they will be reviewed in March. She stated that Juvenile Probation has not been participating as much.
She stated that sharing of information is happening today in the old system because the new system cannot be functional until all the departments are up and running. Oli Sadler stated that there is a JUSTIS meeting scheduled in February and will get the date to the Oversight Panel.
Co-chair Keehn asked about the courts going live this year. Oli Sadler stated that part of the money is used for the transaction of data to the warehouse. Oli Sadler stated that linking of the data warehouse is part of the JUSTIS funding. Co-chair Keehn asked if there was information flowing from the courts to the JUSTIS warehouse system. Oli Sadler stated it was in the beginning stages. Co-chair Keehn stated she would like more clarity on this because her belief was otherwise. Co-chair Keehn and Oli Sadler will both follow-up on the understanding of the courts. Co-chair Keehn asked what the status of the domestic violence module is on the DA and APD systems. Oli Sadler stated she believed there was a domestic violence module in both systems.
Ms. Taylor-McGhee indicated that Oli Sadler has dedicated a DTIS staff member to help DOSW on this project. Co-chair Keehn asked if the RFP for the Sheriff’s Office and the Police Department include a domestic violence module. Oli Sadler stated she believed it included collection of information that the department wants but cannot say if it is what DOSW wants. Co-chair Keehn stated that she is concerned that there are RFPs going out for systems that do not have domestic violence specific components to it and they become additions later on. Co-chair Keehn stated that by ensuring the information is included in the system prior to purchasing hardware and software saves money later on. Oli Sadler stated that the information was given to the Police Department representatives at the Data Collection Committee meetings and Ms. Sadler gave the information to Al Corker prior to the release of the RFP. Co-chair Leal wants to know if the domestic violence information was part of the RFP and asked Oli Sadler if she could find this out and report back to Co-chair Keehn. Ms. Taylor-McGhee suggested that Al Corker be in the meeting with Murlene Randle.
Public comment given by Rosario Navarrette, DOSW. She is concerned that the current systems that are live such as APD and DA did not have the domestic violence information prior to purchasing their systems and she does not know if domestic violence is part of the SFPD or Sheriff’s Office case management systems. She stated that this information will not be known until a test run is performed to test if the systems provide information. Ms. Navarrette stated that if the domestic violence information is not put in prior it will be very expensive as later additions.
Co-chair Leal asked that Oli Sadler get back to the Oversight Panel on whether the domestic violence information is part of the systems.
No public comment
Media Plan
Belle Taylor-McGhee and Ken Theisen presented the Justice and Courage media plan. Belle Taylor-McGhee stated that cuts at different departments is the big story. She wants to develop a model for getting letters out and emailed to the editors. Ms. Taylor-McGhee stated that everyone involved in the Justice and Courage Project should participate in writing letters to the editors when domestic violence makes the headlines. Ms. Taylor-McGhee stated that cultivating media resources is ongoing and calls should be made to editors regarding domestic violence. Ms. Taylor-McGhee noted that media briefings are useful for news. She stated that with the proper funding, the Oversight Panel should think about a media campaign. Ms. Taylor-McGhee suggested also holding meetings in the community. Mr. Theisen stated that the public should know more about the work being done and this could help fund-raise for their needs. He stated people should write back to editors when they don’t agree with articles and want to comment.
Manuel Vasquez stated that he would like to think of reaching communities of color and stated that public service announcements represent a good tool for reaching marginalized populations. Mr. Vasquez also noted that it is important to appeal to the faith communities in terms of getting the word out. Mr. Theisen stated PSAs require funding to produce. He suggested for now, that we concentrate on the free media they can obtain and need commitment from others on this.
Ms. Upton stated that a few months ago the issue of not having good arrests and homicide figures was raised at the Domestic Violence Consortium meeting. Trish Erwin, a researcher took on the project and scanned newspapers in Northern California of the growing trends. Ms. Erwin wrote the report called Collateral Damage and urges Oversight Panel members to contact her. She included an analysis of how many children ended up without parents and statistics on gun violence and homicides. Ms. Upton suggested an op-ed piece based on this information be produced.
Co-chair Keehn asked Ms. Taylor-McGhee how the Oversight Panel would work with this media plan and she would like to formalize the action related to the plan.
Ms. Taylor-McGhee stated that she will be meeting again with Mr. Theisen on formalizing the process. Ms. Taylor-McGhee noted that there are many factors depending on what’s being produced.
Action: Motion approved to move the media plan forward.
m/s/c/ (Theisen/s Brooten Job/Unanimous)
No public comment
Future Goals, Objective, Project Timeline
Co-chair Keehn continued the Justice and Courage Strategic Plan discussion.
Belle Taylor-McGhee added she would like to see a live demonstration run of the domestic violence module by the end of July 2004. Co-chair Leal added that she would like to have domestic violence information in all case management systems populating the JUSTIS system by the end of 2004/2005. She stated that she is concerned that there is much software being put in to place and not sure that the domestic violence module is in place.
Action: Motion to amend Goal III, C.
m/s/c/ (Co-chair Keehn/Beverly Green Simmons/Unanimous)
Co-chair Keehn will review 2005/2006 goals in the future.
Manuel Vasquez stated that through UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Public Health, there is an opportunity to get assistance on developing an evaluation plan. Students work on creating evaluation plans as part of graduate program. They look at the needs and create an evaluation plan but do not perform the evaluation itself. Mr. Vasquez suggests that the DOSW submit a request to work with the graduate program as part of the Justice and Courage Project.
Co-chair Leal clarified the difference between creating an evaluation plan vs. conducting an evaluation she wants to be sure that we don’t get caught in a research project which is good, but lacks conducting the evaluation project itself.
Rosario Navarrette stated that in order to do an evaluation there must be a plan and that this graduate project could be used as a proposal for funding of the evaluation plan. Work would begin mid February and by May must be completed including a budget with how much the plan would cost to be funded. This information is useful since currently we have no idea how much would an evaluation cost. Rosario Navarrette reminded the Oversight Panel that there is no funding for the Justice and Courage Project except for the Coordinator’s position.
Motion to add the development of an evaluation model plan to the Justice and Courage Strategic Plan.
Action: Motion to amend the goals to include an evaluation plan.
m/s/c (Taylor-McGhee/Brooten Job/Unanimous)
Co-chair Keehn led the discussion on assigning Oversight Panel members to the specific Justice and Courage strategic plan areas of responsibility. Mr. Vasquez will head up the evaluation component. Ms. Taylor-McGhee will work with Mr. Theisen on the media component. Ms. Green-Simmons and Ms. Upton will be working on outreach. Ms. Chang will be working on fundraising. Co-chair Leal will work on funding. Co-chair Keehn will work on meeting with City officials, attending JUSTIS Governance Council meetings and work with Susan Leal on funding. Barbara Brooten Job is working directly on two committees. She currently serves as the chair of the Protocol Committee and sits on the ICCC. Ms. Taylor-McGhee requested to be added to meeting with City officials and securing more funding for the Justice and Courage Project.
Action: Motion approved for Oversight Panel members to be assigned areas of responsibility as listed above. m/s/c (Keehn/Brooten Job/Unanimous)
Co-chair Keehn stated that the Oversight Panel needs to meet with the Mayor, District Attorney, Sheriff, Courts, Police Chief, Chief Probation Officer and Board of Supervisors Finance Committee. Co-chairs Leal and Keehn stated that they will send out emails announcing future meetings and Oversight Panel members will be invited to attend. Co-chair Leal stated that the priority is to meet with the Mayor, the District Attorney and the Acting Chief of Police at this time. Ms. Taylor-McGhee stated that the Board of Supervisors should also be added.
No public Comment.
Action: Motion for Oversight Panel members to meet with Mayor, District Attorney, Sheriff, Courts, Adult Probation, Acting Police Chief, Board of Supervisors and the Finance Committee of the Board. m/s/c (Brooten Job/Taylor-McGhee/Unanimous)
Co-chair Keehn stated that when the Project first began Mayor Brown sent out letters requesting information from the departments on the status of recommendations and their plans and timeline for implementing the recommendations. We would like the new Mayor to send a letter requesting a status of the implementation of the recommendations in the Report. She would also like to have domestic violence statistics for at least 2002. This will be one of the items of discussion when they meet with the Mayor. Ms. Upton stated that the community along with the Department on the Status of Women needs this information. Ms. Brooten Job stated that it is important to inquire how departments are complying with recommendations.
No Public comment.
Action: Motion approved to request that the Mayor send a letter to department heads requesting an update on the status of the implementation of recommendations in the Justice & Courage Report and provide domestic violence statistics.
m/s/c (Co-chair Keeh/Unaimous)
Next Oversight Panel Meeting
Co-chair Leal announced that the next oversight meeting is March 30, 2004, 9:00a.m. – 12:00 noon, City Hall, Hearing Room 416.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 12:00 noon
m/s/c (Green Simmons/Brooten Job/Unanimous)
