DRAFT
Law and Justice Committee
Minutes
February 28, 2011
The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, January 24, 2011 at 6:30p.m. in the DeKalb County Legislative Center’s Gathertorium on the East Side. Chairman Marlene Allen called the meeting to order. Committee members present were Riley Oncken, Stephen Reid, Anita Turner and Derek Tyson. Mr. Ken Andersen was absent. A quorum was present. Others present were Margi Gilmour, Clay Campbell, Sheriff Roger Scott, Officer Grant Erickson, Jason Ruddin, Dr. Ruddin and Regina Harris.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
Moved by Mr. Oncken, seconded by Mr. Tyson, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from January 2011.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Moved by Ms. Turner, seconded by Mr. Tyson, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda as presented.
K-9 UNIT – SHERIFF SCOTT
Sheriff Scott introduced Grant Erickson who handles one of the K-9 Unit dogs, Triton. Grant gave the committee a demonstration of what Triton can do. He said that there are 13 dogs over the past years that the Sheriff’s office has used in this Unit. The dogs have handled $1 million in evidence.
Sheriff Scott then reviewed the Jail Report for the month of January 2011. He said that the Jail numbers are pretty much the same and as of today there were 18 inmates on Electric Home Monitoring (EHM). There are 14 adults and 4 juveniles on it.
Mr. Reid asked Sheriff Scott, has closing the mental health unit at Kishwaukee Hospital affected the Jail?
Sheriff Scott said that Kishwaukee Hospital was a place to be able to take an inmate with a mental health problem and they could stay there. Now the hospital will take them in but they will then send the patient on to another place. If an inmate has a serious mental health issue, that person is segregated from the rest of the jail population for safety. He believes that the jail currently has 10 to 15 inmates in the jail with mental health issues.
Ms. Supple, DeKalb County Coordinator asked Sheriff Scott how many gang members are in the jail daily?
Sheriff Scott said about 25% to 35%.
PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT – Regina Harris
Ms. Harris, DeKalb County Public Defender, said that the numbers were about the same as last month for her report.
Ms. Turner said that she liked the way Ms. Harris has evened out the number of cases for each attorney in her office.
COURT SERVICES – Margi Gilmour
Ms. Gilmour reported that there were 15 new cases added to the Adult Court Services. There were also 11,612 hours ordered for CRS hours in the month of January 2011. They closed 5,107 hours in the same month.
There was a young man at Onarga who was recently released and placed in foster care with a local man in the community. This did not work out. This young man is currently in the DeKalb County Jail. The second young man remains at Onarga and her department is currently trying to place him somewhere to live.
Ms. Gilmour also mentioned that the Step Program will be celebrating a graduation ceremony this week. They currently have 10 members from DeKalb and 10 members from Sandwich. They will be conducting this program again in either April or May of this year.
STATE’S ATTORNEY – Clay Campbell
Mr. Clay Campbell, DeKalb County State’s Attorney, said that the EHM Program (electronic home monitoring), does have available bracelets and he will begin reviewing the list of people who may be able to be placed on this program.
Ms. Turner said that your statement this month is different then what you said last month about the EHM program.
Mr. Campbell said that he is in favor of the EHM bracelet program and that after talking to people in the Sheriff’s Department he has changed his mind because he became better informed about the program. He is determined to get more people on the program.
State’s Attorney Campbell would like to start an Adult Diversion program in the County for first time offenders. He is also trying to get the Juvenile Justice Council leadership program going again.
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Mr. Oncken, seconded by Ms. Turner, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
_________________________________
Marlene Allen, Chairman
MA:mcs |
