Meeting Information
The CJCC will meeting at 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Flory Building at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.
Strategic Plan Goal
TOPIC
ACTION
PRESENTER
HANDOUT/Notes
Call To Order
Member
Introductions
Pam Weigand
None
Minutes:
September 14, 2019
January 14, 2020
Review
Correct
Approve
Pam Weigand
Minutes have been emailed
CJCC Work
Past/Present/Future
Review
Mike Brouwer
Draft PPT
Work Groups
Discussion
Mike Brouwer
Work Group Chart
2
Racial and Ethnic Disparities for Justice Involved
Task
Charter
Review
Approve
Mike Brouwer
Work Group Charter
Contact Study consultants will be on-site March 23, agenda TBA
1, 3, 4
Incarceration Alternatives/Evaluation
Task
Charter
Review
Approve
Mike Brouwer
Work Group Charter
1, 2, 3, 5
Stepping Up Initiative
SIM Project
Information
Mike Brouwer
SIM workshop by GAINS Center June 3,4
Comments, Suggestions and Recommendations
Open
None
Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Meeting
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Attendance included: Carrie Neis, Mike Pattrick, Greg Burns, Darren Canady, Wes Lovett, Commissioner Michelle Derusseau, Judge Scott Miller, Jennifer Ananda, Tamara Cash, Jennifer Ananda, Chris Keary, Patrick Schmitz, Charles Branson, Pam Weigand, Shaye L. Downing, Judge McCabira, Sarah Plinsky and Mike Brouwer.
MINUTES
Patrick Schmitz moved to approve the minutes for September 10, 2019. Motion was seconded by Jennifer Ananda and carried.
Patrick Schmitz moved to approve the minutes for January 14, 2020. Motion was seconded by Wes Lovett and carried.
CJCC WORK PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE – Mike Brouwer
Brower listed the Council’s many accomplishments over the past four years.
Highlights included:
• Stepping Up Initiative: 60% of Law Enforcement is trained in CIT, which is now a regular part of the training curriculum for all offices. Brouwer thanked all the Chiefs for their commitment and time.
• Previously 18% of people booked into jail had mental illness. The current percentage booked into the jail is 9.1%, a 50% reduction.
• Lawrence Police Department (LPD) has added a co-responder program and is looking to add a mobile crisis response team.
• The Sheriff’s Office and LPD are participating in Racial Ethic Disparities training. Two national companies have contacted us about wanting to do training. All five law enforcement agencies are participating in a stop/contact study. The jail has been reporting on demographics weekly.
• The City of Lawrence and Douglas County joined the Government Alliance for Race and Equity Organization.
• Douglas County hired a new Criminal Justice Data Analyst and we are now tracking screenings for drug abuse. We are the only jail doing this. The hope is to begin tracking the addicted population as we are doing with the mentally ill population in the jail system.
• Douglas County has been recognized by the Council State Governments for having the best law enforcement/community corrections data they have seen.
• Douglas County implemented MyResource Connection.
• Douglas County been selected by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center for a data-dive project, which is a national model for mental health and criminal justice data.
• Douglas County is hoping to electronically tracking “connections of care” using GAP data through the IRIS system.
• The District Attorney’s office is 1) offering adult and juvenile drug and alcohol education programs; 2) has added the women’s substance abuse program; 3) is targeting people that have been resistant to treatment; and 4) has added Behavioral Health Court, which has served 39 clients; and 5) is offering a pilot Drug Court.
• The Pre-Trial Program has four staff members who screen candidates daily. Over 1,000 clients have been served in the past two years with pretrial monitoring at no cost to the participants. Other counties are charging a minimum of $15 per week.
• The Lawrence Municipal Court now releases jail bookings on “Own Recognizance” Bonds with no cost to the client.
• Courts are sending electronic reminders to clients for court appearances.
• Douglas County has added additional mental health programs including screenings for mental illness, drug and alcohol addictions to the already robust programs offered inside the correctional facility. One concern is trying to improve dosage for people being served in these programs.
Brouwer discussed the work groups, members, and tasks and strategic plan goals assigned to these groups by the CJCC. These work groups report to the council. They will be completing a worksheet after every meeting to post on the County website. A council member, or champion, will sit on every work group.
• CIT Council is currently working on training.
• Racial and Ethnic Disparities for Justice Involved group is working on the LEO Contract Study, Peer Learning Network, and training.
• Incarceration Alternatives Research and Implementation Group is reviewing step-down housing and enhanced diversion programs.
• Incarceration Alternatives Evaluation group is looking at pretrial release, Behavioral Health Court, house arrest, drug court, the AID program, DA Women’s Substance Use Disorders (SUD) program and Diversion options.
• Mobile Crisis Response Team group is reviewing 24-hour crisis line, Substance Abuse Crisis, Pre-law enforcement Intervention and Post Crisis support.
• The Stepping Up Initiatives group is tasked with reviewing Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the CSG Report and other recommendations.
Judge Simpson asked if staff considered including judges in the work groups. It would be nice to include them from the beginning. Brouwer responded there are several judges considering joining the work groups. Judge Pokorny will be involved in the Evaluation Work Group when they work on the evaluation manual for Behavioral Health Court. Brouwer said he wants Judge Huff to be involved in the Drug Court evaluation. He said the Stepping Up group could also use judicial support.
Judge McCabria agreed with Simpson’s suggestion. It is important to have judge participations as the courts have ability to most impact outcomes. He has connected with several judges regarding the group. He was not aware staff had not heard a back on a confirmation. Brouwer said he will follow-up with additional conversations with the judges.
Darren Canady asked who is responsible for the charter and how the information will be communicated to the group members.
Derusseau explained that when the CJCC requests additional information on a topic, they ask a work group to do research. In early discussions it was determined a council champion would determine what members are needed from the community based on their expertise, knowledge, and lived experience to create a charter that is approved by the CJCC. A Council Champion would be a different position than the Chairperson. Work groups are not permanent. Once the task is over, the group is over. A new work group will be created for a new request.
RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES-Mike Brouwer
Brouwer gave an update on the work group. Robert Bieniecki will continue to lead the Law Enforcement Contact Study as he brought the municipalities and agencies together. He is a former police officer and understands the language. A site visit with Northeastern University is planned for March 23. The group will discuss the data collected to this point, which is a small representation, to look for any non-consistency in filling out the reports.
Brouwer will chair the work group on the County Justice Peer Learning Network. A network call is planned for April 30 on reduction of SMI in the jail. A site visit at Prima County, AZ is planned for May 28-29.
Shaye Downing stated she has not seen information come through regarding the site visit for March 23.
Brouwer responded this would be a third site visit from Northeastern University. This visit will provide an update on where we are at with preliminary findings on collected data regarding Racial and Ethnic Disparities with the primary focus to check in with law enforcement to see if additional training is required. The goal is to be open with the public of the status of the study and make sure we are receiving good data. To get good data, law enforcement must collect the data consistently.
A site visit is planned for March 23 with Northeastern University. There is an education meeting planned with the League of Women Voters and the NAACP to meet with law enforcement agencies that participated in the Contact Study. They will talk about data, though there is only a small representation at this point.
Chief Burns added there really needs to be two years’ worth of data for comparison on the Contact Study. The first year will give a baseline and the second year gives something for comparison.
Jennifer Ananda stated this is one study, but with very large impacts. We also hope to create a comfort level with this group where we can talk about race. This group has not avoided discussing race, but we have been uncomfortable.
Charles Branson stated this group could do a better job reporting on what has been going on with the work groups. He suggested improving our communication by having the work groups report on the status of their discussions and place the information on the County website for public.
Derusseau agreed that every time a work group meets, they should report back at least a couple of paragraphs on who attended and what was discussed. That report should be updated at the following CJCC meeting.
Darren Canady said there is a perception that this group has made progress on some areas. A charter would go a long way to be clearer to the public and holding our group accountable.
Brouwer said he would like all charters from work groups ready for the next meeting on May 12.
INCARCERATION ALTNERATIVE/EVALUATIONS TASK – Shannon Young
Brouwer stated he is still in contact with Dr. Allan Beck; and Shannon Young, Adult Service Supervisor, who are still working together on the Pre-Trial Release (PTR). There is an option to hire a third part evaluator, or creating our own structure to evaluate our programs, making sure we are collecting the right data. Brouwer said he feels we are. Every 5-8 years, we should be third-party evaluated. It would be more cost effective if we have the data upfront. We are working on a facilitator manual.
Shannon Young is over the Alternative Program, which includes Behavioral Health Court, Pretrial Release, House Arrest, and now new Drug Program.
When looking at a Self-Evaluation the following is important:
• Participation of key players is more effective in improving the programs than being told what to do.
• Logic is preferred over confusing statistical terms and expert evaluation jargon.
• Trained evaluators can train other evaluators and their replacements.
• Research on current Best Practices will be provided by the CJ Coordinator.
• We start with the first session of Self-Directed Evaluation Program using the PTR program as the example.
• The Evaluation Work Group and key players of the PTR program collect the data.
• The CJ Coordinator’s office will supply information and support for the evaluation of the other programs.
• Assistance at “no charge” will be provided by Dr. Beck.
• We would use this framework for the facilitator manual.
NEW BUSINESS/DISCUSSION – None.
PUBLIC COMMENT – None.
NEXT MEETING
• Next Meeting: June 9, 2020. Location: Zoom meeting.
ADJOURN -Weigand adjourned the meeting.
Time and Date