HomeMy WebLinkAbout20172560Present:
WELD COUNTY
CRIMINAL JUSTICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Centennial Center, 3`d Floor, Conference Rooms A & B
915 10th Street, Greeley
Judge Thomas Quammen, Robb Miller, Roger Ainsworth, Karen Salaz,
Mike McCormick, Jessica Herrera, Dianna Campbell, Jim Merson, Jerry
Green, Jeff Valerio, Esperanza Ortiz, Mary Nagler, Kris Cummings,
Kamie Cooley, Ruby Jaime -Soto, Doug Erler, Craig Miller, Kyle Ward,
Judge Michele Meyer, Commissioner Julie Cozad, Judge Julie Hoskins
In Judge Hartmann's absence, he had previously named Judge Quammen the Chair. Judge
Quammen called the meeting to order at 12:10 p.m.
1. Introduction of attendees
2. Consider Election of New Chairperson
• Judge Quammen nominated Judge Julie Hoskins for the Chair. Robb Miller
seconded, and with no other nominations, the motion passed unanimously. Judge
Hoskins therefore assumed Chair duties and continued with the meeting.
3. Approval of January 10, 2017 meeting minutes
• The minutes were accepted with no changes. Judge Quammen moved to approve,
Jerry Green seconded, the motion passed unanimously.
4. Update -19t JD Probation S.P.A.C.K.L.E. for Mentally Ill program
• Mary Nagler, Jeff Valerio and Esperanza Ortiz from Probation recapped the
program implemented in late 2016. The program is designed for certain
probationers with co-occurring disorders and facing homelessness. The program is
funded by Justice Assistance Grant funds and Probation partners with North Range
Behavior Health (NRBH) for housing assistance as opposed to providing vouchers
to clients for hotels/motels. As of now, the program is utilizing five (5) NRBH beds,
and Probation is noticing medium beds are needed more than lower use beds. Mary
reported that the process they have in place seems to be working well and is
reducing revocation of these high risk/need offenders. Judge Quammen pointed out
that when probation clients are at motels they are often influenced by negative
factors and behaviors, causing an increase for risk and relapse. It was noted that
keeping clients stable on medication also eliminates recidivism. Judge Hoskins
asked how long the beds are available. Jeff said 40-70 days has been the common
average; however, a few clients have stayed longer depending on their needs. Judge
Hoskins asked where these offenders are transitioning to once they leave NRBH
supervised housing`? It was noted that most clients are transitioning back to their
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own homes or with family. Michael McCormick from NRBH stated the program
has been a "win -win." He reported a rapid placement model was put into place so
these clients can get housing quickly. From NRBH's standpoint, having 24/7
coverage and supervision is creating better client recovery processes and
stabilization. Mike believes it has been a positive partnership with the 19th JD
Probation Department. Mary reported probation has applied for an extension of the
grant, with the possibility for funding up to three (3) more years. ADDENDUM:
The JAG Board approved year two funding for the SPACKLE program. Great job,
Probation and NRBH!
5. Court Date Notification Program Update
• Ruby Jaime -Soto from the Weld County Justice Services Department presented a
status report on the new Court Date Notification Program with Year to Date (YTD)
outcomes. She explained that the focus of the program is to reduce failure to appear
occurrences by providing court date reminder calls to persons scheduled for
appearance to Division A at least three (3) days prior to their scheduled date. Ruby
reviewed the initial pilot effort for the committee, which was put in place before
the program was approved by the Weld County Commissioners and implemented
by the department. She recalled for the committee the pilot program had showed
court date reminder calls improved overall court appearance rates. Since the official
program was implemented in January, 2017, Ruby has worked with Karen Salaz
and Kris Cummings with the Courts to receive Division A dockets a week in
advance. These reports contain name and phone numbers of scheduled defendants.
Ruby noted that not all phone numbers are provided because the citing law
enforcement agencies are not always listing these (she noted there are many reasons
for this). She usually makes her calls to defendants before their court dates on
Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Kris provides a Failure to Appear (FTA) list
for each court hearing and Ruby documents the results. To date, Ruby reports that
for January, 2017, 80% of the defendants scheduled in Division A appeared and
20% failed to appear. For February, 2017, 77% appeared and 23% did not. In
March, 2017, 79% appeared and 21% failed to appear. Appearance Rates by Type
of Offense was also presented. Judge Meyer clarified that Felony casesare never
be seen in Division A. Kamie noted that if a case was denoted with a "CR," Ruby
tracked it as a Felony case. Ruby will consider those cases and adjust to
Misdemeanor and/or Traffic, depending on how it was transferred. By Case Type,
in January, Ruby made 262 calls for Traffic cases. Two hundred and thirteen of
these defendants appeared for court and 49 did not (81% court appearance rate).
For Misdemeanor cases, Ruby made 65 calls. Forty-eight of those defendants
appeared for court and 17 did not (74% court appearance rate). By Case Type, in
February, Ruby made 625 calls for Traffic cases, resulting in a 78% court
appearance rate. She made 173 Misdemeanor calls, resulting in a 76% court
appearance rate. By Case Type, for March, she made 689 calls for Traffic cases,
resulting in an 80% court appearance rate and 181 calls for Misdemeanor cases,
resulting in a 76% court appearance rate. Ruby explained that she is tracking direct
contact as talked to the defendant, made 3rd party contact or left a voicemail and
then comparing to no contact as, no answer, wrong phone number, disconnected or
no number provided. In January, when Ruby made direct contact, the appearance
rate for Division A was 86%. When she did not make contact, the court appearance
rate for Division A was 75%. For February, the court appearance rate for direct
contact in Division A was 82% and the appearance rate when no contact was made
was 70%. For March, the direct contact court appearance rate in Division A was
88% and the appearance rate when no contact was made was 69%. Ruby
summarized by stating that per her findings, contacting defendants directly
increases court appearance rates. Ruby noted that only one call is being made, no
additional attempts to contact these defendants are made if no contact is made. She
said that there are still several tickets issued to defendants with no phone numbers
provided (of 2010 cases, 512 did not have phone numbers listed - 25%). Ruby has
found that she is leaving more voicemails than talking to defendants. She said
defendants often want to reschedule their court dates when she does make contact
because of a job or transportation issues (she provides information on bus routes
and other resources). She also stated that defendants often believe they don't need
to appear for court because they have already paid their ticket. In those instances,
Ruby said she explains the process and instructs defendants to report for court.
Ruby has also noticed that some of the FTA's are because the defendants are in
custody for other cases. Ruby is bilingual in Spanish and she believes this too is
helping. Dr. Kyle Ward from UNC asked how the pilot program sample size was
chosen. Kris reported the defendants chosen was completely random and it was a
small sample size. Commissioner Cozad said that based on the success of the pilot
program, Ruby's position was funded for 2017. Judge Quammen asked if it would
be worth making a second call due to the statistics showing direct contact is
beneficial. That is something Ruby will consider.
6. Consider assistance of UNC Criminal Justice Department
• Doug Erler introduced Kyle Ward from the UNC Criminal Justice Department. He
and Kyle have been discussing ways that perhaps Kyle's department might be able
to assist the CJAC. Kyle introduced himself and explained that his department is
looking to start a "justice institute" at UNC, which might be a resource for the CJAC
- collaborate research projects, etc. Judge Quammen said he believes having the
assistance of the UNC Criminal Justice Department, most notably for statistical
analysis, would be beneficial. At the next meeting, Dr. Ward may have more
information to consider.
7. Subcommittee Reports
• Sheriff's Office Jail Reports
i. Roger Ainsworth reported that the number of adults being admitted to the
jail in 2017 has continued to trend upward. The average daily population
increased 135 offenders from 557 in 2016 to 692 in 2017 (+24.2%). The
average length of stay increased from 18.3 days in 2016 to 21.2 days in 2017
(+15. 8%).Traffic related charges are up 20%. Municipal Court arrests have
decreased. Karen asked if there was a recent statute change that required a
sentence to jail on certain cases and not to the DOC. Judge Hoskins
explained that the change is statute regarding prior DUI convictions may be
what Karen is referring to. Robb stated that the DA's office filed about 90
felony DUI cases in 2016; however, he believes other cases have off -set that
number. Kamie asked if the jail can track what percentage of their
population is pretrial vs sentenced. Roger said that is not something they
have looked at and stated that the average length of stay reported above
includes all defendants. Kamie has noticed that several of the Pretrial
Services defendants that were released and ordered to pretrial supervision
are then being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
deputies. Judge Hoskins reported the highest number of in custody
defendants came to court recently. Jim Merson asked if there is any
discussion regarding increasing capacity to hold inmates at the downtown
Courts Complex. Roger noted that while this space has been remodeled, the
holding space can only hold a few inmates; however, the WCSO transports
inmates to the main jail several times each day.
• Alternative Programs -Work Release/EHM
i. Dianna Campbell, Alternative Programs Director, introduced Jessica
Herrera. Jessica is the new full time employee at Alternative Programs. Her
focus is creating case management services for the program. Dianna also
announced that the program recently updated its Client Handbook and
Placement Agreement, which can be found on the Justice Services
Department website. To date, the program is averaging 85 new intakes each
month. Of statistics reviewed, Dianna touched on a few areas. Twenty nine
percent of clients were transported from the main jail for orientation and
71% were ordered as new walk-ins. Of the total population, 48% were for
alcohol related traffic offenses. The average daily population is currently
146. As for terminations, Dianna reported 71% were positive, 7% were
neutral and 22% were for negative reasons. For the electronic home
monitoring program, she said 94% of the population attended orientation.
Of those, 15% were transported from the jail for orientation and 85% were
walk-ins. Sixty percent of the EHM population is non -alcohol traffic related
cases. The average daily population is 65 and of those, 91% terminated
positively, 3% were neutral and 6% were terminated negatively. The
number of days completed in the program prior to regressions is on average,
110 days. Dionne Sund asked how work release was tracking regressions
for new substance use? Dianna reported that for EHM clients, when they
are regressed for new substance use it is filed as a technical violation and
not for a protection order violation. Additionally, Dianna noted that a "hot
UN' from a client in Work Release is an automatic regression if a protection
order is in place, otherwise, the program has intermediate sanctions policy
and procedures to monitor and manage compliance. Judge Meyer would
like to find out how many clients are sentenced on a Friday and then having
to wait to be transported to Work Release after the weekend (on Monday).
Dianna will start tracking these numbers. It was noted that the Sheriff's
Office stopped intakes on the weekends years ago because staffing was so
limited and this remains the case today.
• Pretrial Services
i. Kamie Cooley, Pretrial Services Supervisor, reported on 2017 YTD
statistics for the Pretrial Services program. She reported on the average
year-to-date Public Safety rate of 87%, which means 13% of the
defendants on pretrial supervision had new law enforcement contact
whereas either a Summons or arrest occurred. The technical compliance
rate was 87%, which means 13% of the defendants on pretrial supervision
were revoked, most notably for positive urinalyses, missed urinalyses
and/or lost contact. The Court Appearance rate is 81 %, which means 19%
of the closed pretrial supervision cases these defendants did not appear for
a court hearing and a warrant was issued. She noted the program is
interviewing for daily Bail Hearings an average of 276 new arrestees each
month (70% of all eligible arrestees) and providing a Bail Report for
bail/bond hearings on those defendants. 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 74% of
the time. On the supervision side of Pretrial Services, the program
maintained an average daily population of 883 defendants under pretrial
supervision 'with an average of 224 new monthly intakes and an average of
246 monthly' case closures. Once the defendant is ordered to pretrial
supervision, she said the program tracks the Colorado Pretrial Assessment
Tool category and risk score for appropriate supervision (Category 1 is
low risk and Category 4 is high risk). Kamie noted that most of their
supervised population falls into Category 2.
8. Roundtable
• Judge Hoskins reported that she cannot be present for the next meeting if it is held
on July 11, 2017. The committee voted to reschedule for the following week.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m. The next CJAC meeting will
be Tuesday July 18, 2017.
Respectfully submitted,
Kamie Cooley
Pretrial Services Supervisor
Reviewed by,
Doug Erler
Director, Weld County Justice Services
Department
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