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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 05-29-2008 PUBLIC SAFETY COORDINATING COUNCIL Minutes of Meeting May 29, 2008 Convened: 3:34 p.m. Adjourned: 4:38 p.m. CALL TO ORDER Commissioner Craft called the meeting to order at 3:34 p.m. in Conference Room # 3, 2300 Virginia Avenue, Fort Pierce, Florida. ROLL CALL Roll call was taken. Members Present: Commissioner Chris Craft th Tom Genung for Chief Judge Roby, 19 Circuit Diamond Litty, Public Defender Major Pat Tighe, SLC Sheriff’s Office Suzanne Caudell, CORE Program Janet Collins, SLC Bail Bond Association th Judge Philip J. Yacucci, 19 Circuit Tom Bakkedahl for Bruce Colton, State Attorney Donald Monroe for Thomas Mark, Department of Corrections John Romano, New Horizons of the Treasure Coast Members Absent: Ken Mascara, Sheriff of SLC Others Present: Mark Godwin, SLC Criminal Justice Coordinator Broderick Underwood, SLC Information Technology Department Lisa Savage, SLC Pretrial Program Manager Ed Fry, SLC Clerk of Circuit Courts Ethel Rowland, Taxpayer Eva Bryant, SLC Drug Lab Chris Harris, Magellan Health Services of Florida Jack Miller, Magellan Health Services of Florida Becky Bleyman, CORE Program Trevor Morganti, SLC Sheriff’s Office Toby Long, SLC Sheriff’s Office Gary Robinson, PSL Police Department Jim Reeder, Palm Beach Post Public Safety Coordinating Council May 29, 2008 Page 2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes from the April 24, 2008 meeting were unanimously approved. UPDATE by CRIMINAL JUSTICE COORDINATOR-MARK GODWIN: Please Note: The recorder was not turned on at the beginning of the meeting. Tape starts with Major Tighe saying: came into custody and thankfully the Judge released her forthwith the next day. The problem with this case is this young lady has a substantial claim. She had a very good job making $45,000 a year. Her current employer did not know that she was on probation nor had a felony record and when he found out she got violated she lost her job. So I can expect her to come back into custody because she can not pay the fine. Commissioner Craft asked how long was the second person in? Major Tighe said only 1 day. The Judge took care of it the next day. Lisa Savage reported on the Pretrial Program. The program is doing well, no major changes, same numbers as before. We had a lot of turnovers, new cases coming in and a lot of them disposed. As far as the VOP Court, this is something we had talked about a year ago when we were doing case management. Judge Yacucci had a good point as far as the county cases they move faster. As far as the VOP cases, Judge Nelson had volunteered to take back the Fast Track on Thursday afternoon in her courtroom with her time to view some of those VOP cases. If it came up again Judge Nelson would be willing to view the cases on Thursday afternoon. Judge Yacucci said this goes more to Major Tighe’s point on those violations. Probation Officer doesn’t have someone arrested on a violation. That affidavit goes to a Judge who reviews it and signs it and determines whether or not to set a bond so that’s the process that is beyond just a Probation Officer. So even though it may seem trivial, there may be a lot more there in history wise then what you are aware of. I think we got to be careful about nit picking certain cases. Major Tighe said, the one with the money order your honor. The probation officer never checked out where the money was. Never called his client to say you missed a payment even though she sent it. So there was no communication on his part. When she called him, he never said show me the document. The document showed up in court the next day and the Judge released her forthwith because everything was there. She got the money order from Western Union. They sent it certified. The Judge wouldn’t have known that when he or she signed the order. Judge Yacucci said you could probably talk it in a specific case but I think in general that’s a Judges discretion area for Circuit Judges. I hesitate going too much into that, you would have to look at every single case. Public Safety Coordinating Council May 29, 2008 Page 3 Major Tighe said Lisa said something interesting about people that violate the drug use and again I’ll reiterate what I said last month but I’ll put it into a different light. What type of risk assessment are we doing on these candidates for probation before we offer them a plea bargain? Are they drug addicts, do they have a house are they employed or are we just setting them up because it’s easier to plea bargain? And I’m not pointing fingers at anyone I’m just saying with 538 in custody something is not working and we need to look at who we are pushing out on probation. We should only put people who qualify for probation because it is Alternative Sentence. If somebody is a drug addict, substance abuser, someone is also unemployed and doesn’t have a residence in SLC and we offer them probation what is their success rate? What do you think it would be? Becky Bleyman said you are penalizing them because they don’t have the income and they don’t have a job. So your saying the poor people go to jail when the people that have a job and have money and own a house get probation. Major Tighe said well I didn’t say it that way but what if a person has a substance abuse problem but has a job and has a house, what do you think their success rate is if they are Oxycodone abuser. They are going to be put on probation. Suzanne Caudell said in some I’m sure that holds true. But at least our County Judges here, if someone comes on with sub-abuser we can get them assessment or if they don’t have a job we can work with the re-entry program and try to make their life better than just pass them aside and send them to jail. Our mission at least is to try to help them be successful and some of them we are not able to do that and they do end up violating. Major Tighe said I’m not saying we are going to give everybody jail sentences. I’m saying we need to have more information about the subject before the plea bargain is offered. That’s what I am saying. Judge Yacucci said that just boggles my mind what you just said. I mean that has nothing to do with you. That has to do with so many factors that is totally out of your control. That has to do with the strength of the defendant’s case, the defense attorneys recommendation, the prosecutors talking to witnesses, knowing the strength of their case. The possibility of somebody being successful and not successful is going to be a call made on all those factors that a Judge and the players are going to determine. If you start looking at who you think might not work you’re just gonna end up with more people in jail anyways because they’re not going to get a chance to go to probation. So I just don’t see the logic in that. I understand what you are saying we don’t want to set people up to fail but that’s not the way the system works. Mark Godwin went over the graphs from Broderick Underwood and spoke about the databases that Broderick has programmed. Spoke about the Mental Health Court graduation. Diamond Litty said the Mental Health Court graduation was well attended, pretty emotional. Bob Butterworth came down from Tallahassee. SLC is literally the star in the state for MHC. Public Safety Coordinating Council May 29, 2008 Page 4 Mark Godwin spoke about the Drug Testing Lab. We are about one month behind. The equipment is being installed and Eva is going to Texas for training and certification. This is all th through grant funding. We are looking at the 16 for grand opening. Diamond Litty thanked and commended Broderick for all the work he has done. He is truly an asset to the County. th Mark Godwin says Judges over at 7 street would like to have wireless system for the attorneys to have the capability to use their lap tops. The system should be operational within the next two weeks. Mark Godwin said taking a look at having county staff run the JAC. Mark asked Ed Fry how things are working with the data warehouse. Ed Fry said feels we made significantly process. There have been some technical challenges. A lot of them we have been able to resolve. We are getting the information from the Sheriff’s Department out at the jail. Already seeing a return on the investment. One of the issues that we are trying to get addressed right now is after the Judge has made a decision in court, after the SAO has made the decision, how are we able to transmit that data back over to the Sheriff’s Department over to the jail for the jail to take action on it. Mark Godwin said Broderick is going to develop a website for our librarian so they can go to with all the different links where individuals can be identified that are out there in the public. We will be putting together training for the library staff. Commissioner Craft asked Judge Yacucci to explain to him the process when someone violates their probation. Judge Yacucci said there is a couple ways you can violate. One would be that you commit a new subsitive offense and then of course the Criminal Judge would deal with it but the majority of times you got a violation that occurs that the Probation Officer becomes aware of whether it be DOC for felonies or CORE for misdemeanor that usually it’s a number of violations they are reduced to writing in an affidavit then signed by the Probation Officer eventually goes to the Judge and the Judge reviews it determines if there is sufficient probable cause for the arrest on the violation and what if any bond should be set. Commissioner Craft asked does the DOC or CORE make a recommendation to the Judges to what they think. Judge Yacucci said CORE makes a recommendation on certain matters. Sometimes they just put st 1 offense. There won’t be any specific recommendations. Many times there is a recommendation because they dealt with the situation they feel comfortable enough to make a recommendation. Commissioner Craft asked does that ever entail just a notice to appear or is it always just a pick up? Public Safety Coordinating Council May 29, 2008 Page 5 Judge Yacucci said No, that’s the Judges decision based on prior criminal history, the nature of the offense. That’s why I was concerned with Pat. Commissioner Craft asked does DOC work the same way as far as making a recommendation to the Judge. Don Monroe said no we don’t normally put a recommendation on a violation report. We use to but we don’t anymore. We have court officers that we have advised in court as far as when it goes to preliminary hearings if it is to be presented as bond they will address it at that point. Becky Bleyman handed out a comparison spreadsheet on misdemeanor/criminal traffic for the month February to May. She went over the total VOP’s and the reason for violation. JUDICIAL UPDATE: Tom Genung said Chief Judge Roby is amending the assignment order. Judge Mirman is going to be assisting the Felony Judges in Fort Pierce. Commissioner Craft asked Mark to get all the cost that the Legislature has either passed down to the County or things that they have traditionally been funding and they have decided to cut. All the cost associated with those two. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Craft adjourned the meeting at 4:38 p.m. Submitted by, Carol Strobert THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE HELD June 26, 2008