Today Meenal attended the Governor’s Crime Commission meeting, held in Raleigh.
Chairman Scott Thomas began the meeting by asking for a moment of silence to commemorate 9/11.
After this, he recognized Thomas Caves, Special Assistant to Secretary Reuben Young of the NC Department of Crime Control and Public Safety to give a legislative update.
Thomas began his review by acknowledging the difficult legislative session and said that many departments experienced cuts to their budgets.
His update touched on legislative action which impacted the Department of Crime Control.
Highlights include the following bill ratifications:
–HB 9, No Texting while Driving, which bans the use of cell phones and other technology when used to send or receive text messages or emails while operating a motor vehicle. Law enforcement officers and other public safety workers are exempt from this bill. The bill does not ban GPS or other navigational tools.
–HB 1342, Free Medical Exam-Victims of Rape/Sexual Offenses addresses an issue being faced by victims of rape who do have insurance or other collateral source of income. Because of this income, victims were being billed for some of the services included in the forensic collection of evidence that occurs after the crime. The bill specifies that all charges related to the forensic exam should be billed to the state and not insurance carriers.
–HB 379 (Allow Mutual Aid between State and Local Governments) came from the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery Management and states that the governor may set up mutual aid agreements between local governments with the agreement of the entities.
–HB 380 (Strengthen Local Emergency Management) also recommended by the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery Management authorizes local governments to form joint emergency management agencies across county and municipal lines. Additionally, it requires a state review of local emergency management plans.
Following the update, there was discussion of enhancing GCC members communications with legislators. Suggestions included hand delivering the policy agenda to their respective representatives and educating legislators and the general public about the mission of the GCC.
After a short break, committee reports on the 2010 GCC program priorities were reviewed.
The Criminal Justice Improvement Committee will focus on four aspects:
1) Local law enforcement block grants for those local law enforcement agencies that do not qualify for direct JAG awards from the US Dept. of Justice. These applications are for both equipment purchases and overtime resources, with a cap of $10,000 in federal funds per agency.
2) Special emphasis law enforcement initiatives are for law enforcement agencies that are interested in developing, or already have units to address, drug enforcement or property crime concerns. There is also a Robbery/Burglary initiative to solicit grant proposals at the local and state level to address jurisdictions with the highest rates of burglary in the state and soliciting a DNA capacity grant for non-violent offenders who commit robbery/burglary. This will expand the current DNA lab and will encourage larger jurisdictions to submit their cases to the SBI Lab.
Additionally, the GCC will be soliciting 2 pilot projects, in a medium (100,000-300,000 pop.) prosecutorial district and a second one in large (over 300,000 in pop.). The purpose of these is to clear the backlog of serious violent crime cases and fast track the prosecution of these cases.
3) Statewide infrastructure and technology improvement, which includes statewide initiatives in technology such as state and local justice integration projects that link existing data bases, criminal history records improvement and expansion of uniform crime reporting capacity to rural areas that currently aren’t able to report data to the SBI.
4) Recidivism reduction initiatives that includes pre-trial services programs, drug treatment court programs in counties that don’t currently have them and offender transitional services programs.
The 2010 Crime Victims’ Services Committee Program Priorities Committee include 5 aspects:
1) Sexual assault/domestic violence services
2) Child abuse and neglect services
3) Law enforcement/prosecutors’ offices/court officials which focuses on proposals that develop, train or expand specialized units that target violent crimes against women.
4) Underserved crime victims services
5) Other sexual assault/ domestic violence services
The 2010 Juvenile Justice Planning Committee Program Priorities focuses on 4 aspects:
1) Services to address disproportionate minority contact in the juvenile justice system
2) Delinquency prevention through skills-training and/or vocational programs
3) Community-based intervention and prevention services for youth involved with gangs, abusing substances, or in detention while providing educational programming
4) Improved response for child victims of maltreatment
