The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, March 17, 2008 @ 6:30p.m. in the DeKalb County Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  County Board Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias called the meeting to order.  Members present were Marlene Allen, Ken Andersen, Sally DeFauw and Howard Lyle.  Ms. Tobias and Mr. Hulseberg were absent.  Ms. Tobias arrived at 6:55p.m.  Others present were Sheriff Scott, Regina Harris and Margi Gilmour.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Mr. Andersen amended the minutes on page 2, 4^th paragraph for the spelling of his name.   

Moved by Mr. Lyle, seconded by Mr. Andersen, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended minutes from February 2008.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

          Chairman Osborne asked to have the agenda amended this evening to reflect a report from the Sheriff on the Response to the February 14^th  NIU Campus shooting.   He placed this item under 5a.) on the agenda.

          Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Mr. Andersen, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.

RESOLUTION TO PARTICIPATION IN THE PRAIRIE SHIELD GRANT AWARD      

          Sheriff Scott said that the resolution to participate in the Prairie Shield Grant Award is a housekeeping item, which our County is a part of a multi-million dollar Prairie Shield Grant.  Our portion will be small, he said.  McHenry County is administrating the grant and is requiring the authorization of the 20% local match.  It is not new money - it’ s money that is in the Sheriff’s budget already. 

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

RESPONSE TO THE FEBRUARY 14^TH NIU CAMPUS SHOOTING.

          Sheriff Scott submitted a summary to the committee regarding the Response to the February 14^th  NIU campus shooting.  He said that they had a minimum of 16 officers that responded to the scene.  Three of their officers arrived on time to help with the injured before the ambulances arrived on the scene.  The officers remained on patrol on the campus for the next 24 hours.  In the midst of all of that they had 3 to 4 officers assigned at Kishwaukee Hospital too for security and assistance.  Their investigators assisted in interviewing some of the students who had been in Cole Hall and as needed throughout the investigation.

          Sheriff Scott said that their Communication Center and telecommunications answered seventy-four 911 calls regarding the event.  Approximately 60 percent of the calls throughout the system came through cell phones on the afternoon of the shooting.

SHERIFF’S 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

          Sheriff Scott then submitted his 2007 Annual Report to the committee.  Some of the items that he highlighted were found on Page 3, which covers Mandates.  Sheriff Scott said that everything that they do in his office comes from these mandates.

          Page 6 covers the Merit Commission, page 10 covers 911 calls.  He said that approximately 70% of all 911 calls received at the four Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPS) are handled at the Sheriff’s Office.  They answer over 95% of all 911 calls made from cell phones within the county.  Page 23 covers the Canine Patrol and Page 25 covers the Vehicle Deployment Program.  Page 30 begins the report on traffic crash and statistics.  Page 33 covers the Intersection traffic crashes.

          Sheriff Scott then highlighted page 44, which covers the Criminal Investigation Division.  He said that they are at an all time high with 381 new cases.  The bulk of last years increase is directly attributable to several rashes of car burglaries, which increased from 34 cases in 2006 to 76 cases in 2007.

          Page 58 covers who is in the jail.  On an average, the inmates staying in the jail was comprised of about eighty to ninety percent felons charged with crimes such as Murder, Home Invasion, Aggravated Battery, Burglary, Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse, Armed Robbery, Delivery of Controlled Substance, Unlawful Restraint, Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault, and Child Pornography.  The percentage of women increased a percent in 2007.  This translates into an average number of women housed in the jail daily to ten per day.  Sheriff Scott then highlighted page 82, which covers his New Horizons. 

          Sheriff Scott encouraged all county board members to read the annual report to get a better understanding of what is going on in the jail.

          The Committee thanked Sheriff Scott for his very informative report.

JAIL REPORT

          Chairman Osborne said that the monthly Jail Report looked the same as last month - nothing has changed.

COURT SERVICES MONTHLY REPORTS AND ANNUAL REPORT

          Ms. Gilmour said that as far as her monthly reports go, they were so early in the year that there was nothing extraordinary to report.

          Ms. Gilmour went on to explain and highlight various sections of her 2007 Annual Report to the committee.

          She said that all of the work that her staff performs in her office is provided for in the statute, under the Section titled, “The Probation and Probation Officer Act”.  It designates what their authority is and what they are supposed to do.  They are considered an arm of the judiciary and therefore every officer in her office is a sworn officer of the Court.  Their primary goal is to carry out the orders of the court and to work with individuals to try to effect positive behavior change.

          Some of the sections of her report that she highlighted are as follows.  Page 8 in her report reflects what the officers do in her office.  Page 10 and Page 11 covers the numbers of court referrals to her office for juveniles in 2007.  The three offense categories of Criminal Damage, Battery/Assault, and Drub/Alcohol account for 46% of the total number of delinquency petitions filed by the State’s Attorney’s Office in FY2007. 

          Page 17 covers the Detention numbers and the Intergovernmental Agreement with Kane County that guarantees bed space for DeKalb County Juveniles at the cost of $80 per day. 

          Page 26 reflects the Intensive Probation Program in her office.  Page 27 covers the Juvenile Summer Camp that her office tries to hold each year. 

          Page 33 reflects the numbers of new probation cases ordered in FY2007 and new transfer-in cases into DeKalb County.

          Page 37 covers the numbers of violations in the County that increased in FY2007 by 16% compared to FY2006.  Page 64 covers the 2008 Goals that her office will try to achieve.

          The committee thanked Ms. Gilmour for her very thorough report.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

          Ms. Regina Harris, the DeKalb County Public Defender, said that her monthly report reflects that in February 2008 they opened 256 cases and closed 185 cases.  In looking back to February of 2007 they opened 284 cases and in February 2006 they opened 291 cases.  So it is down just a little bit this year.  There is relative consistently in their numbers of cases that they are handling, said Ms. Harris. 

Ms. Harris said that her office is fully staffed now and that she will be working here at the DeKalb County Public Defender’s Office one year in May of this year.  She is very happy with the new attorney she was able to hire from the Kane County Public Defender’s Office, who is very experienced.

ADJOURNMENT

Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Mr. Andersen, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                 Respectfully submitted,

                                                 _________________________________

                                                 Richard Osborne, Chairman

RO:mcs

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