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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0021.078 2002-2004 JAY T. KIMUR4 ~ 34 RAINBOW DRIVE VN??.~R/!~II~ HIL O, HAWA1196720 PROSECUTING ATTORNEY ~.LL y- PH 961-0466 I~'<~ FAX'. 961-8908 CHARLENE Y. IBOSHI ' 934-3503 FIRS T OEPUTV ~ WEST HAWAII UNIT PR OSECU TING ATTORN EY '•,v`,..-_.:E-r= PO 80X748 ~r C :a,•~P~ KEALA KEKUA. HAWAII 96750 ~TF p~_NP~j PH 322-2552 FAX' 322-6584 OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY DATE: August 4, 2003 0 ~ c'' TO: James Y. Arakaki Council Chair and OCR Council Members ZC r---, ~C ~ . cn FROM: Jay T. Kimura 1~ _ ~ - 3 RF,: FINAL REPORT ~ u-~ Name of Grant Program: Community Oriented Prosecution Federal or State Grantor: Federal County Grantee Department or Agency: Office of the Prosecuting Attorney Grant No, (IF KNOWN): O1-DB-O1 Amount of Grant: $190,425.00 Amount of County Match: $63,475.00 Grant Period (Commencement & Completion): ] 0/1/O1 - 12/31/02 Goals: To improve the quality of life on the Big Island and to impact drug trends by increasing the communities involvement in the criminal justice system. Objectives: 1) Educate and work with 8 community/business groups on local crime related problems and prevention methods in the first year of the grant. 2) 60% of residents involved feel that community participation is effective in reducing crime. 3) Complete a clear problem description for 80% of the identified communities. 4) Of those communities with a clear problem statement, 50% will have documented progress made towards resolving the community proglem that made their communityies feel unsafe. 5) Develop procedures to initiate nuisance abatement actions within the first three months of the grant. 6) Initiate actions to remove at least 5 drug house from the communities by the end of the first year of the grant to increase public awareness and confidence in law enforcement. Outcomes or Results: See attached. Comm. No. Rei. To: F~ Ref. Doke ~~~7 _~_6 e~.,~, ~ ttui.t C.~ ~ Viz, Department of the Attorney General i I ~ ~ ~ ~ Crime Prevention and Justice Assistance Division J~~ PROGRESS REPORT C,i,~ ~ Project No.: 01-DB-O1 Project Title: Community Oriented Prosecution Agency: Hawaii County Office of the Prosecutine Attorney Person Completing Report: Charlene Iboshi Phone: 961-0466 Project Period: 10/1/01 to 12/31/02 Report Period: 10/01/02 to 12/31/02 A. Provide a brief description of the Program. Community Oriented Prosecution (COP) involves along-term proactive partnership among the prosecutor's office, law enforcement, the community and public and private organizations, whereby the prosecutor's office helps solve community identified crime problems, improve public safety and enhance the quality of life in the community. B. List each goal and objective, and describe the progress made towards achieving each of them. Goal: Increase the communities involvement in the criminal justice system. Objectives: 1. Help educate and work with at least eight (8) community/business groups on local crime related problems and prevention methods in the first year of the grant. Since the last reporting period, we have had an additional 62 group meetings. The Community Oriented Prosecutors (COP) have facilitated many of these meetings and have presented training on upcoming legislation, the process of obtaining a search warrant, and the roles and responsibility of prosecutors. The community groups consists of: Community Empowerment Facilitators (CEO), Community Police Officers (CPO), neighborhood watches, members of the Hawaii County Council, public library personnel, various church groups, representatives from security companies, shopping center managers, elementary and intermediate private and public school children, the Community Response to Ice team (CR1), Drug Court Planning Team, Hawaii County Traffic Safety, the Governor's Traffic Safety board, Visitors Aloha Society of Hawaii, the Domestic Violence Interagency Team (DVIAT) and non-profit groups focusing on community outreach. 1 2. 60% of the residents involved feel that community participation is effective in reducing crime. The survey has been completed and will be distributed to the various community groups. 3. A clear problem description will be completed for 80% of the identified communities. Since the last reporting period, we have assisted in identifying 15 clear problem descriptions. Once again, the majority of the problem descriptions involve "ice" use within the community. "Drug houses" and the resulting deterioration of the neighborhoods, e.g. unkept homes, trash in yards, abandoned vehicles, increased traffic at all hours of the night, and dumping of waste material have been identified. Other problem descriptions include: burglaries, agricultural thefts, barking dogs, dangerous dogs, domestic violence, abandoned vehicles, building code violations, school related theft, parking problems, traffic control in school areas, predatory lending, and dealing with mentally ill offenders. 4. Of those communities with a clear problem statement, 50% will have documented progress made towards resolving the community problem that made their communities feel unsafe. A survey has been finalized and will be distributed to various community groups. Other methods of documenting progress include the use of a "cookbook." A "cookbook" is a compilation of completed projects with a description of how to do a certain task so that someone with the same identified problem would not have to recreate the wheel. 5. Develop procedures to initiate nuisance abatement actions within the first three months of the grant. Written procedures have been completed. 6. Initiate actions to remove at least 5 drug houses from the communities by the end of the first year of the grant to increase public awareness and confidence in law enforcement. Since the last reporting period, we have initiated actions to remove 1 drug house from the community. As a result of training, some CPOs have a]so taken the initiative to speak with landlords to remove drug tenants. 2 C. Describe the program activities (coordinating partnerships to impact crime, education, and innovative and collaborative crime prevention, law enforcement and prosecution efforts) to date. I. Coordinating Partnerships • CCFNS -Community Coalition for Neighborhood Safety. CCFNS meetings have been put on a temporary hiatus to focus attention and help build local CEO councils. • Solutions 2003 -This group is comprised of neighborhood watch groups from around the island. Solutions has been holding video conference meetings around the island. The Solutions group is working on community issues raised during the Solutions 2002 conference that the community oriented prosecutors and other partners attended. Furthermore, the COPS are working with the Solutions group to set up another conference that will occur in April of 2003. • Youth Builders -formerly known as Comprehensive Strategies for Juvenile Justice. The community oriented prosecutors continue to participate in meetings held by this group. • DVIAT -Domestic Violence Interagency Teams. DVIAT meetings are held in Kona on the West side and Hilo on the East side. In addition, an all island meeting is held quarterly. DVIAT has sub-committees that deal with public awareness, legal procedures, and inter-disciplinary teams. On the West side, the assigned domestic violence Deputy Prosecutor meets monthly with the DVIAT team as well as participates in a separate case tracking meeting with the Family Court Probation Officers and Domestic Violence Police Officers. The COP deputy participates in the legal procedure team and meets monthly to discuss possible changes in the law, utilization of a screening form to determine violent risk offenders in Temporary Restraining Order cases, and uniformity of procedures in service of restraining orders. The East side COP deputy facilitates the All-Island DVIAT meetings, East Hawaii's main and legal procedure meetings. In October 2002, DVIAT, Turning Point for Families and the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney co- sponsored aFamily Peace March and Peace Vigil where over 200 people from the community attended. • CEO -Community Empowerment Organization. CEO continues to be an integral part of the COP program. Together the CEOs and COPS utilize the SARA method to address community issues. COPS have worked together with CEO facilitators to give presentations and advise on community related issues. 3 • VASH -Visitor's Aloha Society of Hawaii (VASH). Both COP deputies sit as members of the Board of Directors on the East and West sides of the Island. • CRI -Community Response to Ice. The West Hawaii CRI meets monthly with various representatives from the community to discuss the effects of "ice". CRI is comprised of the following subcommittees: educational, safety, and public awareness. Accomplishments to date include KAPA radio station's production of a play on the effects of "ice". The Tutu Hui group provided a couple of picnics for grandparents who are now the primary caretakers of their grandchildren because their children are addicted to "ice". Through collaboration with the COP project, CEO project, Child and Family Services (CF'S), and Hawaii County Police, we are now able to provide presentations on "ice" to various community groups. • Worked with private landlords and helped train them how to keep their property free of crime. This is a direct result of a training put on during the last grant period where a training was done with private and public landlords. Topics included: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (OPTED), proper screening of prospective tenants, availability of resources to obtain information about a tenant's background, and emphasis on educating tenants on their responsibility in keeping public housing in compliance with house rules. • Coordinated with Neighborhood Place, CEO, Family Support Services (FSS), and former State Representative Virginia Isbell to have the HCDCH be held accountable and responsible for mismanagement of Ka Hale Kahalu'u housing. • Participation in the Hawaii County Building Code Violations Task Force. • Participation in the Mayor's Task Force to re-write our vicious dog ordinance. As a result of this groups' efforts, a new and improved law was written to deal with dangerous dogs. • Participation in the Governor's Traffic Safety Advisory Commission and the Hawaii County Traffic Safety Council. Both of these groups work to reduce the amount of traffic fatalities in our State. In addition, the Governor's Traffic Safety Advisory Commission judges and decides the Safe Communities Grants. East Hawaii partnerships include: • CCFNS -The COP deputy works as an advisor to this group. • Solutions 2003 -The COP deputy is a participant in this group. a • Governors Traffic Safety Commission -This group deals with traffic safety issues on a State wide basis. The COP deputy sits as a member of this group. • Hawaii County Traffic Safety Commission -This group deals with traffic safety issues on a County wide basis. The COP deputy sits as a member of this group. • Building Code Ordinance Sub-Committee -This group is working on revising the building code ordinances, which have been a problem issue for many communities in Hawaii County. The COP deputy facilitates this meeting. • Vicious Dog Ordinance subcommittee -This group which is facilitated by the Mayor includes representatives from the Police Department, County Counsel, community members, Corporation Counsel, Humane Society and the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney. The goal of this group was to revise the Vicious Dog ordinance. • COP/CPO monthly meetings -Community Police Officers meet to discuss issues in their neighborhood areas. The CPOS and the beat officers in their respective district team up to assist each other. CPOS/COPS are in the process of developing a system to identify community defendants. • Landlord training -The COP deputy works together with police officers and landlords to help landlords keep their property crime free. West Hawaii partnerships include: • CRI - As a member of the Safety committee, COP Deputy reports on the status of Drug Court, Project Safe Neighborhoods, and available CEO services. • Kailua-Kona Library - We assisted in the development of community trespass warnings for the private and public groups surrounding the library. A Memorandum of Understanding was completed and will be executed among the various groups. Upcoming goal is to change the law so that trespassing at the library would be a misdemeanor Criminal Trespass in the First Degree. • Kailua-Village monthly meetings -Concerns of property managers, businesses, outreach groups, church members, and security who are exposed to drug dealing, people high on drugs, "homeless" people, trespassers, and mental health issues in the Kailua community are addressed. Meetings are held at the Deputy Managing Director's Office. CEO facilitator Ann Peterson and COP Deputy facilitate these meetings. The COP deputy arranged for the Needle Exchange representative from Oahu to present to the group services 5 available to the community. The COP deputy provided training on Criminal Trespass laws. The CPOs participate in these meetings as well. • COP/CPO monthly meetings -Community Police Officers meet to discuss issues in their neighborhood areas. The CPOs and the beat officers in their respective district team up to assist each other. CPOs/COPS are in the process of developing a system to identify community defendants. A proposal would be to tag these cases with a "COP" stamp. The purpose of this identification would be to alert the parties handling these cases to request geographical bans and other appropriate meaningful terms of bail and/or sentencing. 2. Education • A presentation on the roles and responsibilities of the Prosecutor's Office and the process on how cases make it through the court system was presented to students from Hualalai Academy and Waiakea Intermediate Schools. • A presentation on the Community Oriented Prosecution Philosophy and problem solving was presented to the Police Recruit class. • Presentations on the effects of drugs and how drug cases proceed through the criminal system were presented to at least five (5) communities. • A Presentation on the Law Enforcement Coalitions legislative package was presented to the Ocean View Chamber of Commerce and members of the Puna CEO. 3. Innovative efforts to curtail criminal activities • Nuisance Abatement. • Prosecuting Crimes Harmful to the Community. We are awaiting a response from the Hawaii County Police Department regarding our request to identify COP defendants sing a rubber stamp. • Conferrals with Vice. The COP deputies carry pagers and cell phones and have made themselves available to Vice officers at all times of the day and night to discuss cases, review search warrants and charge cases. The COP deputies have also created a form for Vice officers to notify community police officers after a search of a home has been completed. 6 D. Report performance indicators (aka Project Evaluation) that document the accomplishment of the objectives. 1. Number of communities identi5ed by the community oriented prosecution project. 11 2. Number of community meetings conducted/attended. 62 3. Number of participants who participated in crime prevention programs. Hundreds 4. Number of residents in targeted areas involved who feel that community oriented prosecution works/does not work in reducing crime. While the survey has been finalized, we have not distributed them to all of the community groups to date. 5. A complete description of the nuisance abatement program: a clear description of the community's role. This objective has been met. 6. Number of nuisance abatement cases involving the community, the prosecutor's office and other agencies. We are currently working on 4 nuisance abatement cases. 7. Number of cases screened by the community oriented prosecutor. IS E. Problems encountered. 1. A significant portion of the COP deputies work involves receiving calls and listening to complaints from community members that have problems in their neighborhoods. We have yet to come up with an effective evaluation device to track the amount of time, effort and results that come from these calls. 7