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Home My WebLink About08-17-2021 Criminal Justice Subcommittee Minutes MEETING MINUTES CRIMINAL JUSTICE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNITY JUSTICE COLLABORATING COUNCIL August 17, 2021 12:00 PM St. Croix County Government Center -Room 1284 Government Center -1101 Carmichael Road, Hudson, Wisconsin CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL Attendee OrganizationTitleStatusArrived Name Kristi SeversonSt. Croix Clerk of Circuit CourtPresent County Mark LemkeSt. Croix Supervisor, Division of Present CountyCommunity Corrections Gordon St. Croix Chief, River Falls Police Dept.Present YoungCounty Cathy St. Croix SCCSO Chief DeputyPresent BorgschatzCounty Scott St. Croix Hon. Scott J. Nordstrand, Br. 1, Excused NordstrandCountyChair Bob FeidlerSt. Croix Supervisor, Chair of PP&JPresent County Phillip GalliSt. Croix Visiting Professor, UWRFAbsent County Karl AndersonSt. Croix District AttorneyExcused County Laurie OsbergSt. Croix Regional Manager, Office Of Excused CountyState Public Defender Kris AndersonSt. Croix Jail CaptainExcused County Sharlene St. Croix Behavioral Health Adminstrator Excused Lopez County Travis Satorius St. Croix Excused County APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the Community Justice Collaborating Council Regular Meeting June 1, 2021 12:00 PM RESULT: ACCEPTED PUBLIC COMMENT None BUSINESS ITEMS 1. Justice Services Director Introduction Judge Waterman introduced Susan Capparelli as the new Justice Services Director - Justice Support Services. The Justice Support Services umbrella provides continuity of services and continuity in the delivery of such services for an improved criminal justice system. RESULT: DISCUSSED 2. Treatment Alternatives and Diversion (TAD) Grant Update Lisa Multhauf, Diversion Program Supervisor, provided the update for District Attorney, Karl Anderson. Susan Capparelli noted the team/staff meets Thursdays at 10am to continue to collaborate on current and future TAD funded programs. The group continues these weekly meetings, reviewing best practices for TAD so that we are prepared when the new grant opens. Since we do not know when the grant is due, we are working on it. Judge Waterman advised the group is making sure existing operations are covered. Risk analysis will be ongoing in order to not put existing programs at risk. 2022 is a competitive grant cycle with nothing guaranteed or promised. The WI DOJ will look at our data and see if we are doing the things we said we would do. RESULT: DISCUSSED 3. Judge Waterman indicates that a Warrant Day provides an opportunity for a person with an existing warrant to get it taken care of. Multiple entities would be available in one location. Mark Lemke advised that social media has been used successfully in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties in Minnesota to promote the event which is typically held in a neutral location like a school. Clerk of Court, Kristi Severson, states it is mostly for collecting money that is past due per requirements. There are currently between 1200- 1500 warrants. A warrant has to be quashed before the person can be put into the State debt collection system. A lot of money has been collected that way. She advised Douglas and Burnett Counties have held a warrant day with positive response. This is mainly for body-only warrants, typically for misdemeanors. We do not know how many warrants are body-only. Judge Waterman requested Kristi Severson contact Karl Anderson and Travis Satorius to determine whether there is a need for a warrant day. This is to be added to the next agenda. Cathy Borgschatz emphasized the importance of not taking defendants into custody as a result of warrant day, rather, use it as a way to get people back into the system without a warrant and keep their case moving forward toward resolution. RESULT: DISCUSSED 4. Health & Human Services Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) Transition Update Lisa Multhalf advised MRT is being moved to Health and Human Services by September 1st. It will be a better fit. Mark Lemke advised that DOC agents appreciate this program. There is an accountability factor. It is a great asset to the county. Judge Waterman requested this be added to the October agenda for an update from HHS. RESULT: DISCUSSED 5. St. Croix County Sheriff's Office and Jail Updates Staffing is the main concern per Chief Deputy, Cathy Borgschatz. There are 32 full-time positions in the jail. 14 positions are currently staffed, 1 person is in training and 2 people are starting next week. She is hoping by mid- October they will be in a better spot on the patrol and jail side. The next couple of months will be very difficult for staff. She advised of a sexual harassment investigation. The person resigned prior to being interviewed. It was a significant reason for women leaving from the jail. The current jail population is primarily probation holds. We have 24 out on electronic monitoring per the Huber program. We still have a Huber Officer to facilitate employment and community connections. Our contract with Sun Monitoring is working for us at this point. Hook-ups for monitoring are Wednesdays at 10:00 am with a $100 hook up charge. This procedure is handled in the DRC/Justice Support Center. Participants can do orientation and payment before the hook-up if they desire. Cathy Borgschatz will check with Sun Monitoring to see if a Monday hook up can be arranged. Chief Young spoke on how local agencies are doing with staffing. River Falls remains okay. Ellsworth, Prescott, Roberts, and Pierce County are all struggling with staffing. Enrollment levels in the criminal justice program at UW-River Falls are down. Qualified immunity could be devastating for the future of law enforcement. Law enforcement could not be proactive in an incident without the immunity. The US House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 which removed qualified immunity. The Senate has yet to pass this. There is concern about not being able to staff positions if qualified immunity is abolished. RESULT: DISCUSSED 6. Day Report Center Update Staffing and budget are primary concerns. There are a multitude of people on monitoring and we lack the mechanism for reducing or removing those that have proven their compliance with Bonds. Numerous questions were brought to the discussion: How do we provide pretrial services without a 365 day a year 24/7 service? What does testing look like? How many tests are we doing? Why are we testing every person - is this consistent with best practices? What are other State and National Pretrial programs doing per best practices? The DRC/Justice Support Center currently has two staff workers. One, the current Justice Point contracted position, ends August 31. Premier Bio- then this worker returns later in the day to perform UA testing. Susan Capparelli advised we are trying to fill gaps in service during transition. Sun Monitoring was discussed but will not monitor violent or sexual based offenses. Physical space is being altered but there is no budget for privacy walls to perform confidential assessing. Facilities, Jim Elsbury, provided some temporary screens. The next step is for the subcommittee to discuss what pretrial services look like in this county. Pretrial services are and have ves away from the DRC and it is replaced with Justice Support Services. Discussion on the need to meet as a whole and bring information forward to the county as a whole. Everyone needs to understand what pretrial services are. Judge Waterman would like pretrial services to come back on the agenda in October. Susan Capparelli suggested Shar from Community Services be a part of the conversation as well as DA Anderson for discussion on bail jumps, violations of monitoring and when it is appropriate to respond, as well as supportive services via HHS. Judge Waterman indicates that the Criminal Justice Subcommittee is the likely place for this work to occur moving forward - this will be brought to the Executive Committee and Judge Needham to address at the pending full CJCC meeting. RESULT: DISCUSSED REQUEST FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Health & Human Services Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) Transition Update. Update on DRC/Justice Support Center & Pretrial Services. ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE None ADJOURN Judge Waterman adjourned the meeting at 1PM DATE OF NEXT MEETING - MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2021 NOON TO 1PM - GC # 1281 CONFERENCE ROOM