Travis County Commissioners Court
December 6, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 6
Item number 6, consider and take appropriate action on the approval of the Travis County criminal justice community plan due to the capital area council of governments, capcog.
let me indicate our intention to call up item 16 next.
this is number 6.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
>> I'm rob jeffrey, county executive for safety and kathy mclarty and cynthia senior planners in criminal justice planning and they've been working over the last several months gathering input from our community and our criminal justice stakeholders to develop the community plan for criminal justice that by statute and by requirement of capcog must be submitted by December 20th.
it's a three year plan and I'm going to let them give you a quick briefing and take any questions.
>> good morning.
the Travis County criminal justice planning department is here to present the 2012-2015 criminal justice community plan.
the plan will need your approval prior to submission.
the criminal justice plan is a mandatory three-year document required by the Texas administrative code and to this end the capital area criminal justice program known as capcog has been designated by the governor as responsible entity for reasonable justice coordination for the 10-county area of region 12.
capcog staff provide assistance -- to provide criminal justice, juvenile justice and victim services related programming.
these, of course, are the victims of service, victims of crime act and the violence against women juvenile delinquency and the 24 funding streams. Interested parties who wish to apply must be located within the region.
the governor's office criminal justice program sets eligibility requirements for grant application submission.
kathy is going to tell you about what we did during the forum.
>> as mr. Jeffries -- thisxd is an ongoing process.
early this year, in fact, January of this year, our department convened a criminal justice community plan steering community -- excuse me, made up of interested community stakeholders, brought folks to the table to start laying out the plan.
and one of the things that came out of our steering committee was a need for focus groups.
>> [one moment, please, for change in captioners]
>> was also supplied by the individuals who participated in the forums.
>> and the forums included safe place and other places?
service organizations.
>> yes.
service organizations and different governmental entities and it was open to the public as well so it was interested community members as well, a very broad group.
>> do you have any questions about the plan the next three years?
>> court members?
>> it is very comprehensive and I appreciate y'all putting together these forums and I look forward to participating as it continues to roll forward.
>> I think that you can probably look at this as of a living document now than it has been in the past and we consider have to be phase one of an ongoing living document so we can add and take a look at the goals and objectives we have listed in here.
we also would really like to thank the sheriff's deputy and Austin police department and all of our governmental entities and the stakeholders who supplied us the information for this plan.
>> basically, briefly, just if we can, can you just go into some of the subject matter that was basically covered in these forms. You have different services that come up under the plan, anyway you can publically let the public know.
>> sure.
>> because the folks are hearing us, but really they aren't beneath what we are saying here today.
they really don't know exactly what we -- and what we actually are getting to and how victim services, how -- all of these integral parts are playing the role in the capcog region, so if somebody can go through the subject matter here so we can get a grasp of what you are talking about here.
>> some of the high priorities were substance abuse and mental illness and they came to the service as being priorities for those who were wanting to talk about priorities for criminal justice in this area and wanting to apply for grants through the capcog and we have the standard services for women, violence against women and the standard victims crime act.
we also, in large section this year in law enforcement, prosecution and the courts, talk about veterans as well and some of the other top issues were housing.
not -- we didn't ailed dress housing as much in a very larger perspective, but housing was the very first time, came to air attention through this plan.
>> I do want to highlight the fact that the specifics inside the report are on their face very good for us.
our property crime rate is down by nearly 8% and our total index crime rate is down by nearly 8%, but this plan doesn't stop there.
it looks to the causes.
>> right.
>> to address social issues and get to that hard -- that hard place.
we are blessed in this community that we actually have a declining crime rate.
but that gives us the luxury to really look at the social issues underlying the remaining criminal activity in our community.
>> the final plan, once you have approved it and it will be signed will be available at capcog.org and you can contact me cynthia email 854-3277 also if you would like a copy of the plan, especially if the community is interested.
>> or any member of the Commissioners court.
>> or any member of the Commissioners court, right.
>> so when I see the designation, high priority, what should I think?
>> that is an interesting question, judge.
>> thank you.
>> because the capcog has --
>> [laughter] -- had a very prescribed format this year and as we went through the forums we asked each member and individual to differentiate what was high, medium or low to them and we had a lot of discussion about what is high and, in fact, because of that, many many, many of the priorities in here are still listed as high, meaning we would like to see them get high preference for funding.
>> okay.
so we caught to pay more attention to the high priority than the mid range or low?
>> yes.
>> we execute this document every three years or a document that is called a plan and so what do we do after we -- after we vote to approve it and sign it?
do we wait for the next three years to --
>> no.
>> what do we do between now and then?
>> I think, again, that is an excellent question.
>> thank you, again.
>> you are welcome, judge.
>> [laughter]
>> I would like to see the steering committee, a the ad hoc steering committee to become more formalized to keep this as a living document and we addressed the source and implementation here to come back to you in maybe six months to a year to update the plan and also to -- to -- as we formalize this process and go through the capcog, keep this as a plan that this plan is being worked on the next three years.
>> so if the court were to ask for an annual report addressing implementation of the plan, or adopting the critical issues set forth, how difficult would it be for us to do that?
>> we could do that.
I don't think that would be an issue at all.
>> okay.
and if I were part of the group that put the plan together, I would call it to the Commissioners court's attention during our budget process and it may be done indirectly anyway, but I would do it directly.
that would give a lot more significance to the plan.
now, if I am on the -- I am on the executive committee of capcog still, and some counties have a hard time coming up with a plan.
I think we did a real good job of coming up with ours.
is this the second one or the third one?
>> this is the second one that if planning has done, -- the planning has done.
we believe it has improved significantly in the last three years but still more work to do.
>> it is a whole lot of work but I would tie it to budget decisions and court approved initiatives for our sake, not to necessarily meet any state requirement for grant funding.
it would seem to me if we put all of this energy and effort into it, then what we ought to get out of it is a specific plan we ought to implement, okay.
>> thank you.
>> otherwise you did an excellent job.
it is another interesting point, right?
>> it is, sir.
thank you.
>> court members.
>>
>> [indiscernible] the plan to capcog?
>> that should be the motion?
>> approval on the plan, the submittal to capcog as required.
>> that would be my motion.
>> second.
>> any more discussion on the motion?
all those in favor?
this passes by unanimous vote.
thank you again, good job.
>> thank I can't recall.
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