Travis County Commissioners Court

June 12, 2012 - Item 4
Agenda

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>> Number 4, consider and take appropriate action on proclamation acknowledging June 2012 as Travis County Pretrial Services Month.
Good morning.
Should I read the proclamation?

>> Yes, sir.

>> It reads: whereas -- pardon me -- the Commissioners court recognizes pre tile services as an essential part of the Travis County justice system.
And they uphold the law with dignity and respect, dignity and integrity of the courts.
Whereas pretrial services shows respect and dignity to the individual, be they defendants, victims or fellow criminal justice professionals.
They respect the presumption of innocence of all defendants until proven guilty and the pre-trial services professionals treat all people equally regardless of race and national origin, disability, age, gender, sexual orientation.
Professionals are responsible for supervising many defendants in the community and are trained to provide services and referrals for individual -- I mean for defendants.
And work in partnership with many criminal justice agencies, law enforcement agencies, and community groups and promote prevention, intervention and advocacy.
Whereas pre-trial services professionals promote the growth of pre-trial services as well as encourage and cooperate with research and development in advancing the field.
Now therefore be it resolved that the Travis County Commissioners court does hereby proclaim June 2012 as Travis County pre-trial services month and encourage all citizens to honor these pre-trial services professionals and recognize their achievements, and I move approval.

>> Second.

>> Good morning.
I guess I got a little choked up by the proclamation.

>> Judge and Commissioners court, geraldine nagy, director of pretrial services.
This is the first time we've done this.
Pre-trial services has been serving Travis County since mid '60s and we thought it was important to dedicate a month to pre-trial services to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of all the folks that work within pre-trial services.
I've never worked with a more professional and dedicated group of managers and officers so this is a real opportunity to acknowledge what they do.
So thank you very much.

>> Thank you all very much.

>> Thank you.

>> And I'm the assistant director and I just wanted to say this is really long overdue in terms of recognizing the pre-trial services staff.
You know, we have other months where we recognize other professions.
In may we had drug court month and in July we are going to recognize probation officers.
And that's nationally.
So we always wondered why don't we have recognition for pretrial and on a national basis irma has been working very hard the last two years to bring that to their attention and they are working on it.
Apparently it's a complicated process.
It takes signatures of all the governors in the states.
In the meantime, we just decided we needed to move forward and get this done at least in Travis County.

>> I'm with pretrial services and I've been there 26 years, and like dr. Nagy mentioned, this is the very first time that we're actually here having this proclamation.
And so I'm really excited for the staff and for the -- all the staff and so that I would like to let the courts and the community know that, you know, we work really hard for our courts and our community, and it's not just that we're doing it for us, we're doing it actually for the community.
And we love the job that we do.
At least I speak for myself and I'm hoping that the rest of the staff at pretrial they do it because they love the work that they are doing.
So thank you so much for approving the proclamation.

>> And I also wanted to thank you all for your support throughout the years.
You all have been very, very supportive in terms of, you know, our needs with regard to office space, staffing and we really appreciate that.

>> Well said during this budget cycle.

>> [laughter]

>> I just wanted to thank you all for all the work you do with regard to our efforts

>> [inaudible] we have a higher than one percent incarceration rate which is higher unanimous the national average and the national average is higher than the average in the western world.
So through you all's efforts, we are achieving jail diversion and achieving true rehabilitation which is what the criminal justice system should be about.
And so I can't thank you enough for your efforts on the front lines to change the dynamic for a group of individuals who should not be thrown away.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

>> We appreciate you and all that you do.
You work in a tough area.

>> Thank you.

>> And you do an excellent job and I wish we could give you more than this proclamation.
But this is a good start, isn't it?

>> Yes, it is.

>> As well at your own month in Travis County.
Anything else?
Favor favor?
That passes by unanimous vote.
Dr. Nagy.
When we give you one of these, you have to accept it.

>> Thank you very much.

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