The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, April 11, 2005 @ 6:30p.m. in the DeKalb County Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Sue Leifheit called the meeting to order.  Members present were Eric Johnson, Rich Osborne, Pat LaVigne, Roger Stiemel and Pat Vary.  Ms. Turner was absent.  Others present were Jeff Whelan, Maureen Josh, Sheriff Roger Scott, Kenneth Johnson, Jim Mueller, Margi Gilmour and Ray Bockman. 

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

            Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Ms. Vary, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from the February 2005 meeting.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

            Moved by Ms. Vary, seconded by Mr. Steimel, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE COUNTY OF KANE AND THE COUNTY OF DEKALB FOR THE JUVENILE JUSTICE CENTER

            Mr. Jim Mueller, Executive Director of Court Services for the 16^th Judicial Circuit, approached the committee regarding the intergovernmental agreement between Kane County and DeKalb County for the Juvenile Justice Center.  He said that this model is beginning to be copied in the State of Illinois.  He said that the agreement has worked out great and that currently they also have agreements with Kendall and McHenry Counties.  He said that the agreement before the committee tonight is basically the same as before when we started.  He did mention to the committee that there is some talk at the state level that the State of Illinois may standardize the detention bed rate to $125.00 a bed.  Most of the detention centers are saying that this will not work and doesn’t make any sense, said Mr. Mueller.  He doesn’t see this going through. 

            Ms. Vary asked, that with the 16^th judicial circuit possibly splitting, would this agreement still be in force?  Chairman Leifheit said that with the written agreement, wouldn’t it hold up and then County of DeKalb would not be charged the $125.00?  Mr. Mueller said that he doesn’t feel that the State of Illinois can do it.  Mr. Bockman said that what might happen is that the State could reduce the reimbursement rate and drive Kane County to increase the amount. 

            Mr. Steimel said that he just wanted to say that he did get a chance to tour the facility and that he was very pleased with it and with the agreement that we had with Kane County.

            Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Ms. LaVigne, and it was carried unanimously to approve the resolution and to forward it to the full board for approval.

JUDICIAL UPDATE

            Ms. Maureen Josh, DeKalb County Circuit Clerk, briefly updated the committee this evening about her department.  She said that with reference to the splitting of the judicial circuit, that the final steps to make it happen occurred last week. The “sub-circuit” has crossed county lines and that this is the first time that this has happened and it only affects DeKalb County – this did not happen to any other county.  The one thing that it does affect more than anything else is judicial elections.  It will be very hard, when elections come forth, to get an attorney from DeKalb County to become a judge.  The reason for this is that they are looking for more diversity of judges to be sitting on the bench.

            Her department has started the compliance division with a compliance officer and it has the reduced court call, more specifically the felony call.  Some other issues that her office has been looking at is optical imaging and e-filing, (which she will be meeting with Judge Bob Thomas next week).

            Another item that Ms. Josh wanted to inform the committee about was that the time in court has increased significantly.  Her people are going home now around 5:00p.m. or so.  The court calls are going up significantly, also, possibly because of the seriousness of the cases and that legislation has added to the burden.

            Ms. Josh said that on a positive note, that the Integrated Justice System (JANO System) that her office has the modular system for, will now be purchased by the Court Services Department for their department. This will help their two offices communicate more efficiently between each other.  The State’s Attorney’s Office is looking into purchasing their (the SAO’s) module system currently.

            Ms. Josh also mentioned that there is a big push by the public to incorporate a child’s waiting room in the courthouse.  One suggestion that they are talking about is an area in the basement of the courthouse for the room.   There is talk of incorporating a $5.00 fee on all cases for this service, too.  The group that is trying to get this pushed through is also seeking private donors to help pay for the child’s waiting room.  There are other counties that are currently providing this service, an example is Kane County.  If this should go through, this item will go before the county board for consideration said Ms. Josh.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

            Mr. Kenneth Johnson, DeKalb County Public Defender, said that his people are spending longer hours in court, too, especially on the misdemeanor side of court.  They are in court sometimes as long as till 5:00p.m. or 5:30p.m.  He also believes that it has to do with the seriousness of the cases than the amount of cases.  He also said that the DNA tests that are being ordered are taking a longer period of time to get the results returned by.  They are taking now about 4 to 6 months to get the results back. 

            Mr. Johnson also said that the grant that was approved by the State of Illinois for the investigator for his office is now taking up to 4 to 6 weeks for approval for requests.  He said that is because every other county now knows that it has been approved, therefore, the requests are taking longer to get approved because of it. 

            Mr. Johnson did say that with the help of the new attorney that he was able to hirer, through the approval of the county board, has helped move cases through his office faster. 

COURT SERVICES MONTHLY REPORT

            Ms. Margi Gilmour, Director of the DeKalb County Court Services Department,  said that her adult court services report is the same and that her department is holding their own.  The Community Restitution had 30 new adults referred, which is less than 3,000 hours ordered.

            With regards to the juvenile report, there were 12 people detained in the month, with 4 detentions, none with multiple detentions.  Of those 4 detained, 2 were for the 1^st time, 1 for the 5^th time, and 1 for the 8^th time. 

JAIL REPORT

            Sheriff Roger Scott said that in his jail report for last month it reflects that the daily average population in the jail was 82 inmates, of those, 5 inmates were housed outside of the county in March, and 1 was housed outside of the county as of today.

            The one concern of the committee was that there was only $22,000.00 budgeted for the housing of inmates outside of the county for this year and the Sheriff’s Department has already spent $28,900.00 and it’s only as of March 2005.

SHERIFF’S ANNUAL REPORT

            Sheriff Scott, briefly reviewed his 2004 Annual Report for the committee.  Some of the pages that he highlighted are as follows.  The duties that are preformed by this office, that are mandated are found on page 3 of his report.  He said that the newest mandate is found at the bottom of the page and refers to the forfeiture of vehicles involved in Driving While License Suspended or Revokes in relation to Driving Under the Influence.  He said that currently he has 27 vehicles that have be forfeited and that he will auction off soon.  There are 10 cars that he cannot sell yet. 

            On page 4 it highlights the ways that his office earn revenues; page 5 highlights the Merit Commission.  They met 20 times last year and tested 125 candidates last year for his office and they only hired 5 people from those applicants.

            On page 6, 7, and 8 it highlights the organizational chart for his department, the secretarial staff and 911/Telecommunications Division; page 12 highlights the communications statistics.  The only towns and entities that the county of DeKalb does not handle are Sandwich, DeKalb and NIU. 

            Page 15 highlights the jail operations and population.  The jail population for today was 74 inmates and 1 inmate was housed outside of the county, said Sheriff Scott.  The average daily population for 2004 was 80 inmates, which was the largest number in the Jail’s history.  Today the average population is 88 inmates. 

            Page 22 highlights the corrections transports; page 28 speaks about the EHM (Electronic Monitoring) statistics, whose numbers have risen significantly to help keep the jail population down.  There were 71 adults on EHM last year and 59 juveniles (page 29 of his report).

            Page 36 highlights the patrol division and page 42 speaks about the vehicle deployment program.

            Page 43, said Sheriff Scott, highlights the trophy that one of his officers won by preparing a Z19 card for the 2004 Chicagoland Emergency Vehicle Show held in August 2004.  The office won a 1^st place trophy in the Restored Police Car category.  Sgt. Rubeck helped restored a Z19 police car that was purchased new in 1987 and was originally assigned to then Lt. Hickey who drove the car for over 12 years. 

            Sheriff Scott then highlighted page 44 regarding civil process.  He said that it was slightly down last year.  Also, regarding the Sheriff Sales, there were 32 sales last year that generated $37,000 in revenue.

            Page 47 highlights the Township Accidents that were handled and page 48 highlights the types of traffic accidents.  The most dangerous intersection in DeKalb County last year is the intersection of Route 72 and Route 23, going north toward Marengo (found on page 49).

            Page 54 highlights Death and Alcohol accidents that increased by 8% in 2004, which is the highest total since their previous record, which was 1054 accidents in the year 1999.   The number of injuries due to accidents last year declined by 4%, from 386 injured individuals to 371.  A reduction was in the total fatalities countywide, which decreased by 2 in 2004 from 14 to 12.  However, as of 2203 half of the fatalities were alcohol related.  This includes one accident that involved an intoxicated pedestrian.  Three of the twelve fatalities occurred in the city jurisidictions, and one occurred on Tollway I-88 near Keslinger Road.  Page 58 highlights the DUI arrests in 2004.

            Page 62 highlights the Criminal Investigations Division.  This squad is comprised of 27 investigators, which are activated to work major cases, such as, homicides and kidnappings.  This squad was formed in 1998 through the cooperation of the Sheriff’s Office, DeKalb Police Department, Sycamore Police Department, and the NIU Police Department.  The total number of new investigative cases dropped slightly from 333 cases in 2003 to 317 cases in FY2004. The number of residential burglaries decreased in FY2004 to 21 from 34 reported in FY2003.  The number of non-residential burglaries rose, however, from 26 in FY2003 to 35 reported in FY2004.  These types of buildings include commercial business and other structures such as repair shops, garages and mini storage facilities.

            Pages 73 and 74 highlights the D.A.R.E. Program that started in 1993.  It has been phased out because of staffing issues.  Sheriff reported that in every district where they taught the program, it has successfully continued with the local police department and appropriate school district.

            Page 78 and 77 highlights the New Horizons Programs.  The Evidence Room was successfully completed and was a big step forward for his department.  It now holds 224 evidence bins that span three walls, ceiling to floor to hold all types of property/evidence waiting for court proceedings and eventually disposal. 

            The Stay In Touch and Read Program (page 80) was started in 2004 in the Corrections Department.  This program allows the inmate (if approve by everyone) to select a children’s book and read the story on tape to their child. 

            The Character First Program (page 82) became a part of the training at the Sheriff’s Office in the spring of 2004.  It is meant to encourage and continue good character qualities in the men and women of the Sheriff’s Office no matter their rank, position or assignment.   

            The committee thanked Sheriff Scott for a very informative annual report.

ADJOURNMENT

            Moved by Ms. Vary, seconded by Ms. Turner, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

__________________________________                                                                                                       Chairman Sue Leifheit

__________________________________

Mary C. Supple, Secretary

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