HomeMy WebLinkAbout20191425Present:
WELD COUNTY
CRIMINAL JUSTICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
Date: Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Centennial Center, 3rd Floor, Conference Rooms A & B
915 10th Street, Greeley
Judge Julie Hoskins, Judge Michele Meyer, Judge Thomas Quammen,
Judge James Hartmann, Commissioner, Steve Moreno, Commissioner,
Scott James, Keith Coleman, Matt Elbe, Matt Pattella, Jerry Green, Scott
James, Raquel DeNaeyer, Mike McCormick, Kyle Ward, Mark White,
Doug Erler, Pamela Hernandez, Dianna Campbell, Kamie Cooley, Sydney
Bender
Chair, Judge Hoskins called the meeting to order at 12:05 p.m.
1. Introduction of attendees - Chair, Judge Hoskins.
2. Approval of October 9, 2018 meeting minutes
• The minutes were accepted with no changes. Judge Meyer moved to approve, Robb
Miller seconded, the motion passed unanimously.
3. Criminal Justice Coordinator Updates — Sydney Bender
• Provided an update on a jail trends analysis project. She stated that she has worked
closely with Public Safety IT to extract jail data from Spillman, and recently
received the data. She explained that this data will be used to evaluate changes in
the jail population from 2012 to present. She has received data on over 10,000
inmates and is working to clean the data and to make certain that they were present
on the selected snapshot dates, June 30 and December 31 of each year (the dates
used in national Census of Jails reports). The Sheriffs Office does an excellent job
reporting jail utilization trends. The new data will allow for a more detailed analysis
of these trends and help to answer questions like: What does the jail population
look like? How has this changed over time? Given historical jail and demographic
data, what might the jail population look like in the future? Public Safety IT is
working to maintain more detailed historical data, including inmate -level data
classifications. The changes will likely allow for more detailed analyses in the
future of topics like changes in inmate classification and tracking homelessness in
the jail population over time.
• Presented initial findings of her evaluation of the Court Date Notification Program.
In July, the CJAC decided to move forward with an evaluation of this program,
which provides live -caller reminders to defendants scheduled to appear in Division
A, the first appearance court. The evaluation began with the August 28th court
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docket and concluded on October 23, 2018. The evaluation relied on random
assignment. All Division A defendants appearing on the call list were randomly
assigned to either receive a call or not receive a call. Random assignment
essentially creates a Division A With the Court Date Notification Program and a
Division A without the Court Date Notification Program. Sydney explained that
because assignment to either groups depends on chance rather other characteristics
(such as an individual having access to a phone or intrinsic characteristics like
motivation), the program's causal impact on FTA's in Division A can be estimated.
The final sample included 1,586 individuals. Of these individuals, 777 were called
and 791 were not. Individuals were successfully contacted 54.6% of the time.
Those who were contacted directly had the highest court appearance rate (91.4%)
followed by those who were contacted by voicemail (83.8%) and those who were
contacted via third party (78.3%). Pamela Hernandez, the Program Specialist,
made 17.4% of successful contacts in the Spanish language. The script created for
these calls reminds individuals of the date and time of their court appearance,
information about the location of the courts complex, information about the
potential consequences of failing to appear and the availability of a payment plan,
and encouragement to prepare by bringing necessary or helpful documents. While
the script was consistently followed for voicemail contacts, the information was not
consistently communicated to individuals made directly or through third parties.
Individual's questions are answered without providing legal advice; however, some
information was often left out.
For purposes of the evaluation, failure to appear is defined as failing to appear in
Division A on the scheduled day. Sydney clarified that this measurement depends
on the defendants' actions rather than on the judges' decisions. She said the court
appearance rate for those assigned to receive a reminder call was 78.37% and the
court appearance rate for those assigned to receive no reminder call was 74.08%.
The 5.79% (4.29 percentage point) difference of proportions was statistically
significant. The program is working to increase the court appearance rate in
Division A. Further analysis demonstrated that while some baseline differences
exist, the impact of a reminder call was consistent across different groups. Judge
Quammen stated that he expected the difference to be larger and questioned
whether the impact is worth it. Sydney explained that it may be possible to
capitalize on and increase the program's success. She suggested that increasing the
successful contact rate, increasing the consistency in information communicated to
individuals contacted directly and through a third party, and/or exploring expanding
into other court divisions could improve the court appearance rate at a larger scale
for the jurisdiction. Judge Hartmann stated that the Colorado legislature is
considering SB19-036, which would require the State to provide court date
notification services and would impact, and possibly implement, some of what
Weld County's Court Date Notification Program has been doing. Sydney agreed
that if the bill becomes law it might impact those recommendations as well as those
surrounding notification following an FTA occurrence. She observed that FTA's
are likely to continue, even with a program like Weld's CDNP. As such, decreasing
open, lower level FTA warrants may also be productive. During the evaluation
period, traffic cases accounted for 77.7% of FTA warrants in Division A and petty
and traffic cases combined accounted for 84.8% of FTA warrants issued in Division
A. Sydney stated that, in other jurisdictions, notifying individuals that they failed
to appear, and a warrant issued as a result, helped decrease open warrants. In diverse
jurisdictions, temporary and permanent warrant recalls and "safe surrender" type
programs have helped address FTA warrants for individuals charged with lower
level offenses by encouraging these individuals to resolve them voluntarily and
minimizing criminal justice resources expended.
Sydney requested 2-3 committee members to review and edit the report. Judge
Quammen, Keith Coleman, and Kyle Ward volunteered to review the report. The
final report will be submitted for the CJAC's review and approval at its April 2019
meeting.
• Presented a general proposal for the committee to consider: initiate a criminal
justice system mapping project. She explained the objective of systems mapping is
for stakeholders to create a visualization of how decisions are made at each decision
point in their local criminal justice system. These maps show how persons flow
through the criminal justice system. There are several ways to approach this.
Systems can be mapped in a 1 to 2 -day session (this approach seems best suited for
topically focused maps) or over as series of focus groups with relevant stakeholders
and line staff (this approach maps the system more thoroughly and is better suited
to mapping an entire system). System mapping is a powerful tool for coordinating
committees, like the CJAC, with numerous benefits. Sydney explained that it is an
opportunity to facilitate greater interagency communication and that the process
facilitates discussion and can increase understanding of local criminal justice
system practices. It could also help to identify gaps, efficiency of resources, and
develop strategic planning opportunities for Weld County. She stated that CJAC
members may recall a similar process was used by the committee several years ago
to evaluate gaps in our criminal justice system involving persons with behavioral
health disorders. This proposed, broader process would allow for past efforts to be
updated and expanded. She felt it would be a good direction for the CJAC to take.
From an example provided by Sydney, Judge Hartmann asked how Multnomah
County, Oregon used their system mapping. She and Doug Erler added that it was
used to help identify their gaps and overall document their systems' strengths and
weaknesses. Essentially, it has served as a road map for them to help guide decision
making and with strategic planning. Judge Hoskins stated that this process could
produce valuable information for the CJAC. Keith Coleman said he could also see
the value of such a project. With no objections from the committee, Judge Hoskins
asked Sydney to develop a formal proposal/presentation for the next meeting.
4. Ongoing Performance Reports
• Weld County Sheriff's Office
i. Matt Elbe reported that the average daily jail population rate increased by
45 inmates from 714 to 2017 to 759 in 2018 (+6.3%). The average length
of stay increased from 21.9 days to 22.5 days in 2018. Currently, 19
offenders are awaiting transfer to the Department of Corrections. Judge
Hartmann asked about the impact of PR bonds ordered from changes to
local bail practices granting automatic PR bonds in certain cases. Matt
observed that while many were still being detained, there has been a
noticeable decrease in bookings.
• Alternative Programs -Work Release/Electronic Home Monitoring (EHM)
i. Dianna Campbell, Alternative Programs Director, reported the Work
Release Program statistics from January -December 2018. The program
averaged 109 new client intakes each month for 1305 total new intakes.
Thirty nine percent of those were transported from the main jail for first day
orientation. Of the intakes completed, 79% were male and 21% were
female. Sixty seven percent were sentenced as a Condition of Probation.
The top charge at intake was Alcohol -Related Traffic (44%), and the top
charge classification, misdemeanor (77%). On average, the total number of
discharged clients was 102 each month. The average client count on the
last day of the month was 184. Of the total releases, 70.2% positive, 5.9%
neutral and 23.7% negative. Sixteen -percent of negative discharges were
for technical regressions to secured custody. The top regression types were
out of place of assignment (23%) and illicit substance use (19%). From
January -December 2018, the Electronic Home Monitoring (EHM) program
had 652 new intakes. The top charge for EHM was non -alcohol related
traffic (61%). Additional TAD monitoring was ordered for 4% of these
clients. Of EHM discharges, 85.8% were positive, 4.1% were neutral, and
10.0% were negative. The top regression type was for illicit substance use.
• Pretrial Services
i. Kamie Cooley, Pretrial Services Supervisor, reported the Pretrial Services
Program statistics from January -September 2018. She reported the year-to-
date Public Safety rate was 84.3%, which means 15.7% of defendants on
pretrial supervision accrued new jailable law violations. The Technical
Compliance rate was 92.4%, which means 7.6% of the defendants on
pretrial supervision had their bond or summons modified or revoked. The
court appearance rate was 81.1%, which means in 18.9% of closed pretrial
supervision cases these defendants did not appear for a scheduled court
hearing and a warrant was issued. She also reported that the average number
of new arrestees interviewed at the jail each month was 291. If a Bail Report
was completed and Pretrial Services recommended a PR bond, the Courts
agreed with the recommendation 65% of the time. If a Bail Report was
completed and Pretrial Services did not recommend a PR bond, the Courts
agreed with the recommendation 60% of the time. From January -December
2018, Pretrial Services had an average of 245 monthly new supervision
intakes and 260 monthly case closures. Of those cases closed, 41% were
sentenced and 19% FTA. Eighty-two percent of complaint affidavits filed
with the DA's office resulted in that office filing motions for modification
or revocation with the Courts. Fifty-four percent of defendants were granted
cash, property or commercial surety bonds, while 46% of defendants were
granted PR bonds and/or issued a Summons.
5. Open Forum
• Mike McCormick announced that North Range Behavioral Health (NRBH) is
about to implement two new criminal justice services. First, they will provide
competency restoration assistance services. Robb Miller asked if they would be
able to carry out evaluations as well. Mike stated that they would not. The new
service only includes a curriculum for those already identified. Two new court
liaison positions for the HB 18-251 program, Bridges, will also be embedded at
NRBH. More information to come at the next meeting.
• Judge Hartmann stated that there were a high number of felony filings in 2018
and many drug related charges. It is important to examine alternatives for drug
related offenses. Work Release and Community Corrections will continue to be
critical services moving forward.
• Raquel DeNaeyer from Intervention Community Corrections Services (ICCS),
stated that ICCS is currently operating at capacity, resulting in some delay in
intakes from the jail. Judge Hoskins asked how long the waitlist is? Raquel stated
that 3 clients are set to successfully complete residential supervision this week.
She agreed to send current information to the District Court Judges.
• The next CJAC meeting is scheduled for April 9, 2018. Judge Hartmann is unable
to attend meetings scheduled for the second Tuesday of the month. The
committee agreed that Judge Hartmann's attendance and input is valuable, and
asked Sydney to look at alternative dates for the CJAC to consider moving
forward. She said she will inform the committee of possibilities before its April
meeting.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:05 p.m. The next CJAC meeting is set
for Tuesday, April 9, 2018 @ 12:00 p.m. (With the possibility of being changed based on the
above discussion.)
Respectfully submitted,
Reviewed by,
Sydney Bender Doug Erler, Director
Criminal Justice Coordinator Weld County Justice Services Department
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