HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 02141995 - IO-1 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Contra
INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE Costa
FROM:
of i<
County
February 6 , 1995
DATE: cuUA,
SUBJECT: MEETING WITH THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY TO REVIEW THE PERFORMANCE
CRITERIA, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, PROBLEM AREAS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR
HIS DEPARTMENT
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATION:
ACCEPT this report from the Internal Operations Committee on its
meeting with the District Attorney.
BACKGROUND:
On June 28, 1994, the Board of Supervisors, at the request of
Supervisor DeSaulnier, referred to the Internal Operations
Committee a request to develop a procedure which would allow the
Internal Operations Committee to meet with each Department Head
during the year and report on the Department ' s activities . A
number of Department Heads were heard in 1994 . On December 13,
1994, the Board of Supervisors referred this item to the 1995
Internal Operations Committee for the purpose of hearing from the
remaining Department Heads .
On February 6, 1995, we had the opportunity to meet with the
District Attorney, Gary Yancey. Mr. Yancey presented the attached
report to our Committee and reviewed it with us in some detail .
We were impressed with the relatively small amount of County
General Fund money which goes into the District Attorney's Budget,
about $3 . 4 million out of a total budget of some $22 . 1 million,
including Family Support and the Public Administrator function.
Outside revenue comes from a variety of federal, state and other
sources, as is outlined in the report.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE:
o
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE(S):
ACTION OF BOARD ON FPhriiarV 1 4� 1995 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
ATTESTED
Contact: PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK O THE BOARD OF
CC: County Administrator SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
District Attorney
BY DEPUTY
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Mr. Yancey pointed out that his office handles more felony and
misdemeanor trials than Santa Clara, San Francisco or Alameda
Counties, each of which has a larger staff than does Contra Costa.
He also pointed out that in Contra Costa County, each deputy
district attorney handled 5 . 04 trials in the 1992-93 fiscal year,
whereas the other counties with which he is compared handled an
average of 2 .41 trials per deputy.
Mr. Yancey noted the challenge he will face in trying to keep up
with the impact of the "Three Strikes" workload while maintaining
a quality level of prosecution in other important areas . More work
admittedly needs to be done in the Family Support area, which
suffers from a lack of automation. This lack stems from a
longstanding dispute involving the State and Federal Governments
over what system should be installed and who is going to pay for
the system. The end result of this has been a failure to fund any
automation for the Family Support function.
We were pleased with the outline format used by the District
Attorney and with the clear, relevant numbers which were used to
demonstrate the accomplishments and problems he faces .
INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT
for DISTRICT ATTORNEY
1. OVERVIEW
The department prosecutes criminal and some civil cases from filing through disposition,
with limited pre- and post-filing investigation resources available. Limited discretion.
The Family Support Division collects child support. No discretion.
The Public Administrator function is a two-person operation which handles estates where
the deceased has no known heirs. Limited discretion.
FY 94-95 Budget
ADOPTED
FUNCTION UNIT BUDGET POSITIONS
Criminal 0242 $12,708,115 146
Family Support 0245 9,314,408 143+
66 temps
(Budget Unit 0245 also includes another$1,234,606, and 15 positions for
welfare fraud investigation.)
Public 0364 142,853 2
Administrator
2. RESOURCES
A. Funding Sources
Criminal $6,627,928-sales tax
2,681,064-grants and other revenues*
3.399.123-net County cost
Total $12,708,115
Family Support 100% revenue offset from federal and state government
Public Administrator County cost, with some revenue from administrating estates
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*Grants, Revenues, and Expenditure Transfers
OCJP Regional Anti-Drug $ 175,100
OCJP Career Criminal 191,520
OCJP DA-Net(Drugs) 121,600
Realignment Juvenile 199,697
Forfeiture Narcotic Forfeitures 91,150
Dept. Ins. Worker's Compensation Insurance Fraud 192,435
Dept. Ins. Auto Insurance Fraud 166,366
DMV Auto Theft 218,666
Penalties Consumer Fraud 1,112,160
Social Service Welfare Fraud Prosecution 205,070
Miscellaneous P.O.S.T., Discovery, etc. 7,300
Non-sales Tax Revenue 2,681,064
Sales Tax Revenue 6,627,928
TOTAL $9,308,992
B. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
The department meets all of the major assigned goals. Year in and year out, it is number
one or number two in compliance among the large departments.
Meeting the goals within the professional staff while maintaining high hiring standards is
accomplished through vigorous recruiting. The low starting salary and "fixed term" program
make attracting top quality minorities difficult.
C. SICK LEAVE
The County-wide employee usage for 1994 was 70.25% (of available hours).
In comparison, the career sick leave usage for the major employee groups under the
District Attorney are as follows:
Attorneys 30% (i.e., 70% unused)
Investigators 50%
Clerical (Criminal Div.) 62%
Family Support 77%
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As can be seen from these numbers, the majority of the staff does much better than the
County average. The Family Support Division is worse than the County average. The
stress of the heavy workload coupled with dealing with an angry clientele accounts in
large part for the problem.
However, the lack of a County sick leave policy that has teeth in it and which supports
the managers in their attempts to crack down on sick leave abuse is a major contributor
to the lack of success in reducing sick leave usage. A reward system may be the
answer.
D. Automation
The generation of criminal complaints and subpoenas was automated some eight years
ago through the use of"Yanceywriter" software and the County mainframe.
The mainframe also is the source of criminal justice information for courts, District
Attorney, Public Defender, Probation, and local police departments. Information
available includes case charges, calendared court dates, disposition information, etc.
The chief drawback to the present system is the lack of ability to readily obtain data for
management studies/reports (such as the number of spousal abuse case filings)
without making a formal request through Data Processing (and being charged for the
service).
Within the department, a CD-rom legal research system has been installed in each
branch office. In addition, the long sought after goal of putting a personal computer on
each lawyer's desk is nearing completion. This equipment saves much clerical time as
the attorneys (particularly the newer ones) word process their own legal research
papers.
E. Contracts With Community-based Organizations
The department participates in one contract with Battered Women's Alternatives under
a grant from the State Department of Justice for spousal abuse prosecution.
3. CLIENT PROFILE
A. Criminal
The District Attorney is both a state constitutional officer and a local elected official. As
such, he represents the "People of the State of California," but not individual citizens.
The jurisdiction of the District Attorney includes both investigatory and prosecution
functions, and it extends countywide, covering county, city, and special district areas.
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B. Family Support
The federal law mandates District Attorney services to both welfare and non-welfare
families.
4. PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
A. An absolute and unquestioned reputation for honesty and integrity. Done.
B. Sophistication of Organization/Operations
As can be seen from the attached organizational chart, the department has adopted the
specialist team concept which characterizes the largest and most modern of district
attorney offices. Typical special units include Sexual Assault,Welfare Fraud, Homicide,
etc. The specialization technique allows the office to deliver a high quality, victim-
oriented product.
C. Productivity
A good grasp of the department's morale and work ethic can be gained from the
following data taken from the 1994 Annual Report, Judicial Council of California for
jury trials in Bay Area counties (fiscal year 1992-93).
FELONY MISDEMEANOR
COUNTY TRIALS TRIALS TOTAL RANK
Contra Costa 212 156 368 1
Santa Clara 204 132 336 2
San Francisco 143 114 257 3
Alameda 125 129 254 4
San Mateo 63 75 138 5
Solano 72 46 118 6
Marin* 8 66 74 7
*Marin's data is incomplete; the 1993 report lists 27 felony jury trials.
This outstanding record is even more impressive when one considers that three of the
counties listed have district attorney offices much larger than Contra Costa. Comparing
the trials per deputy district attorney (excluding Family Support), the difference is
startling:
Contra Costa 5.04 trials/deputy district attorney
*Average other counties 2.41 trials/deputy district attorney
*Assigning Marin 27 felony trials.
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Or, more than double the trials per attorney.
AND
The total felony trials for Contra Costa County in 1994 is expected to be some 22%
greater than the totals above.
D. Efficiency
The State of California, Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Statistics, published
September 30, 1993, for 1992 (the Bureau did not publish the data in 1994 due to
budget problems), shows the following superior court conviction rates:
Contra Costa County 97.6% (second highest in the state)
Statewide Average 94.7%
These figures show that this office carefully screens the criminal cases at intake, and
then works very hard for convictions. The results are terrific considering that the office
maintains a no plea bargaining policy on superior court cases.
E. Family Support (for 1992-93, latest statistics available)
1. Seven Bay Area counties comparison:
Performance (average of 6 categories)-Contra Costa 5 out of 7
Cost(average of 3 categories)-Contra Costa 2 out of 7
2. Eleven Counties with largest caseloads:
Performance-Contra Costa 6 out of 11
Cost-Contra Costa 7 out of 11
One noteworthy individual category achievement was Contra Costa's recoupment of
AFDC and foster care money of nearly $879,000, fifth best among the 58 counties.
Those figures are excellent considering the fact that Contra Costa is the only large
county in the state which is not automated and receives no County support.
The caseload has grown in just the last four years by some 24,000 cases to over
64,000 total. The division is operating with over 60 temporary employees (and a swing
shift) and still cannot stay even.
5. CHALLENGE
Criminal: Keeping up with the "3 Strikes" workload while maintaining a quality level of
prosecution in other important areas such as homicide, sexual assault, driving under the
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influence, consumer fraud, etc.
Family Support: Converting the division to a fully automated operation under the state
SACCS Program (hopefully, this calendar year). Concurrently, reorganizing and changing
the mix of personnel to gain more productivity.
6. THE FUTURE
Crime will continue to be a priority issue with the pubic. And, unless California's economy
greatly heats up at the same time that its demography changes, child support will continue
to be a growing problem. Both of those concerns will be ever increasing fiscal concerns
for the Board of Supervisors.
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