HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 05131997 - D1 D.)
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Adopted this Order on May 13, 1997, by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisors Rogers, Uilkema, Gerber, Canciamilla and DeSaulnier
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
SUBJECT: Office of the District Attorney Departmental Performance Report
Gary T. Yancey, District Attorney-Public Administrator, presented the Board with
both oral and written reports on departmental performance.
Mr. Yancey answered questions from Board members and thanked them for the
opportunity to make his presentation.
The Board members discussed the report and then took the following action:
1. ACCEPTED the report from the Gary T. Yancey, District Attorney-Public
Administrator, on departmental performance.
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and
correct copy of an action taken and entered on
the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the
date shown.
ATTESTED: May 13, 1997
Phil Batchelor, Clerk of the Board of
Supervisors and Co my Administrator
r
e Wampler, Deputy Clerk
cc: County Administrator
District Attorney
D
1997
DEPARTMENT PERFORMANCE REPORT
District Attorney-Public Administrator
ti
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Gary T. Yancey
District Attorney-Public Administrator
May, 1997
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. OVERVIEW
Departmental Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Organizational Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
ll. RESOURCES
Financial Resources: 1996/97 Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Revenue Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Personnel Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Affirmative Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Sick Leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Staff Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Automation . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Criminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Family Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
III. CUSTOMER SERVICES
Service Delivery System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 ,
Criminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Family Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Customer Profile
Criminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Family Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I. . . . . . 13
Customer Relationships
Criminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Family Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
IV. ANNUAL PERFORMANCE
Performance Indicators
Criminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Family Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Accomplishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 24
V. CHALLENGES AND NEW DIRECTIONS .
Criminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Family Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
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I. OVERVIEW
A. Departmental Responsibilities
The department prosecutes criminal and some civil cases from filing
through disposition, with limited pre- and post-filing investigation
resources available. The civil cases principally fall into the
environmental and consumer fraud areas. Limited discretion.
The Family Support Division (FSD) collects child support and
prosecutes "deadbeat" parents. Discretion on collection function is
essentially zero per federal and state mandates.
The Public Administrator function is a two-person operation which
handles estates where the deceased has no known heirs. Limited
discretion.
B. Organizational Structure
See attached organization chart.
II. RESOURCES
A. Financial Resources: 1996/97 Budget
Function Unit Adopted Budget
Criminal 242 $ 14,072,947
Family Support 245 10,362,408`
Public Administrator 364 148,399
*Budget Unit 0245 also includes another $1,118,167 and 13 positions for
welfare fraud investigation.
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Revenue Sources
Criminal $ 7,570,320 Sales tax
2,664,524 Grants and other revenue*
3.383.102 Net County cost
$14,072,947
*Grants, Revenues, and Expenditure Transfers - 1996/97 Adopted Budget
OCJP Regional Anti-Drug $ 175,100
OCJP Career Criminal Prosecution 170,070
OCJP Major Narcotic Vendor 123,631
Prosecution/DA-Net
OCJP Statutory Rape Vertical 61,632
Prosecution
Attorney General Spousal Abuse Prosecution 110,000
Realignment Juvenile 199,697
Forfeiture Narcotics Forfeiture 91,150
Forfeiture Auto Forfeiture 124,000
Department of Insurance Worker's Comp. Fraud 312,104
Prosecution
Department of Insurance Auto Insurance Fraud Prosecution 216,104
Department of Motor Vehicle Theft Prosecution 218,666
Vehicles
Penalties Consumer Fraud and Toxic 650,000
Pollution Damages
Social Services Welfare Fraud Prosecution 205,070
Miscellaneous P.O.S.T., Discovery 7,300
Non-sales Tax Revenue 2,664,524
Sales Tax Revenue **7.220.480
TOTAL **$9,885,004
**An additional $349,840 in prior year Sales Tax Revenue was added to the 1996/97
Adopted Budget in expenditure appropriations only.
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This brings the total amount of Sales Tax Revenue available to the District Attorney to
$7,570,320, and non-General Fund funding sources to $10,234.844.
N.B. The Real Estate Fraud Prosecution Program funded by recording fees began in
1996/97 and added a revenue offset attorney and investigator at $185,000.
Additional grants*** secured by the District Attorney DURING FY 1996/97 to enhance
domestic violence prosecution efforts: -
City of Concord
Community Policing to Combat Domestic
Violence $ 62,000 1 Fixed-term Attorney
Federal Block Grant
Enhancing Adjudication 111,250 .75 FTE A-Level Attorney
1 B-Level Clerk
Keller Canyon 25,000 .25 FTE A-Level Attorney
State of California 1 B-Level Attorney
Citizen Option for Public Safety(COPS) 337,000 1 Senior"Inspector
1 C-Level Clerk; related
equipment
.5 FTE Domestic Violence
Counselor at BWA
TOTAL $535,250
***This funding augments the District Attorney's Spousal Abuser Prosecution Program
funded by the Attorney General's Office in the amount of$110,000 for an A-Level attorney
and .5 FTE Domestic Violence Counselor at BWA.
Family Support $11,480,175 100% offset from federal and state
government
Public Administrator County cost, with some revenue from administering
estates
Note that the net County contribution to the criminal budget amounts to only
27% and, of the total District Attorney budget, only 15%.
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B. Personnel Resources
Authorized Positions: Adopted Budget 1996/97
FAMILY PUBLIC
CRIMINAL SUPPORT ADMINISTRATOR TOTAL
Attorneys 84 7 0 91
Investigators 16 *11 0 27
Clerks 55 *71 0 126
Collection 0 53 0 53
Officers
Others 2 15 2 19
TOTAL** 157 157 2 316
*Includes 11 Welfare Fraud Investigators + 2 clerks in Welfare Fraud.
**3 Deputy District Attorneys and 2 clerks added after adopted budget through grants and
other revenue to staff Domestic Violence Prosecution Program.
The fixed-term attorney program continues to be both a blessing and
a curse. The County saves approximately a million dollars a year
when the cost of the 27 fixed-terms is compared to the equivalent
cost of the same number of the first level permanent attorney staff.
(Recall, the fixed-term are paid a modest, flat salary for their three
years of employment.)
However, the downside of the program entails aggressive, extensive
recruiting, constant training, a continual stream of new faces for
judges and police to adjust to, and the heartbreak of having to let
people go at the end of their term -- hardworking, loyal, and
productive members of the team. One wonders why other County
departments which employ professionals (attorneys, doctors, nurses,
engineers, etc.) are not forced to enjoy the "benefits" of a similar cost-
savings program.
C. Affirmative Action
The department meets all of the major assigned goals. Year in and
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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. Despite this impediment, the attorney staff
meets or exceeds minority representation in the Bay Area work force.
D. Sick Leave
The County-wide employee usage from 1994 was 70.25% (of
available hours). Current figures are not available.
In comparison, the career sick leave usage for the major employee
groups under the District Attorney are as follows:
Attorneys 34% (i.e., 66 unused)
Investigators 48%
Clerical (Criminal Division) 65%
Family Support 79% (Collection Officers and Clerical)
As can be seen from these numbers, the majority of the staff does
much better than the County average. The FSD 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 continued 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.
E. Staff Development
All employees, professional and support, are evaluated on an annual
basis, except top management who work directly for the District
Attorney. Those individuals are handled on an informal, face-to-face
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basis.
The office has a formal training program for the lawyers, designed to
satisfy both specialized prosecutorial knowledge as well as fulfilling
the State Bar mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirements.
As an example, on Saturday, April 19, all day mandatory training
was conducted for all deputies on the subject of felony sentencing by
the leading authority in California, without cost to the County by either
trainer or trainees. Contra Costa County, in turn, provides training to
other district attorney's offices on ethics, discovery, and Three
Strikes.
The deputy district attorneys are also encouraged to maintain an
active membership in the California District Attorneys Association,
and to utilize the County-provided training and book funds to attend
CDAA courses offering training in the specialized areas to which the
deputies are assigned (i.e., domestic violence, drug labs, consumer
fraud, toxic pollution, etc.).
As part of the CDAA membership, Contra Costa County deputy
district attorneys play an important role in shaping state law and
prosecutorial policies through participation on CDAA committees
such as ethics, legislation, appellate, environmental protection, etc.
Through these activities, Contra Costa County has achieved a
reputation as one of the leading district attorney's offices in the state.
The investigators are sent to P.O.S.T. required (and financed)
training which is necessary to maintain their peace officer status. All
are current. In addition, at least two of the inspectors are trained and
currently certified as polygraph examiners.
The clerical support staff receives both in-house training for each
assigned desk they cover as well as training on broader subjects
provided by the County Training Institute.
The training of new collection officers in Family Support is a formal
process lasting some three months before they begin handling actual
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cases. This training for both collection officers and support staff has
been further intensified in anticipation of going on-line with the new
statewide automated child support collection system (SACSS).
In the past year, Family Support sent 12 team supervisors off-site for
six weeks formal SACSS training, including training on how to be a
trainer. Further training of at least a month's duration by state
SACSS experts is anticipated before SACSS comes on line.
F. Automation
1 . Criminal
The generation of criminal complaints and subpoenas was
automated some ten 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 historical 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.
2. Family Support
The long-awaited (some ten years in development) State Automated
Child Support Collection System (SACSS) has been scheduled to be
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implemented in Contra Costa County for the past two years.
Unfortunately, the system has proven cumbersome and unreliable in
all of the counties installed to date. A major evaluation and software
program modification is underway by the state and its principle
vendor. When SACSS will ultimately be installed in Contra Costa
County is anyone's guess. Meanwhile, the Contra Costa County
District Attorney's Office FSD will continue to be the largest
organization in the state which is neither fully automated nor
financially supported by the county.
The current state of automation in FSD can be summarized as
follows:
a) The mainframe merely stores date; it does not process any data
and does not do any forms generation, so FSD still receives
reams of printouts from the state which must be manually worked.
Most other counties, especially large counties, have an automated
system which will extract the necessary data from the state's tapes
and compare it with the current data to alert staff to changes that
require user intervention.
b) Judicial Council forms are still typed. Form letters are filled in by
hand by Collections to save time required to have clerical type in
addresses.
c) Word processing is minimal at this point.
d) The welfare trust is still worked by hand.
e) Though SACSS has not been implemented in this County, FSD
has received the SACSS equipment. The office is in the process
of building an on-line form production capability to the LAN; has
purchased software to allow filling out Judicial Council forms
through WordPerfect; has purchased software to access the
Worker's Compensation Board's database which will allow filing
liens electronically; and, has converted one task specific database
tracking program to Access and has plans for several more.
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Much of this activity has been held up by a lack of resources in the
County's Department of Information and Technology (DOIT). This
is currently being rectified by Service Level Agreements in which
FSD agrees to fund positions in that department.
f) An imaging system is planned for the payment processing unit.
FSD will use this system later to retain historical data from the
mainframe after conversion to SACSS.
g) FSD pays DOIT for three full-time and one half-time programmers
for the mainframe. However, given the delay of SACSS, the
County will face a major hurdle if it does not convert to some
system before the year 2000. DOIT has advised that the
mainframe programs cannot be converted without an entire re-
programming of the mainframe. It would be a colossal waste of
money and resources to convert a completely inadequate data
storage program. Hopefully, it will not come to that.
III. CUSTOMER SERVICES
A. Service Delivery System
1 . 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 county-wide, covering
county, city, and special district areas, including some 25 police
agencies (cities, county, college district, BART, and park district),
plus serving state agencies and such non-traditional sources of
cases such as the Bay Area Water Quality Control Board, etc.
The basic function of the District Attorney's Office is to file and
prosecute misdemeanor and felony cases. In recent years,
infractions (the lowest level criminal charge such as most Vehicle
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Code offenses and some lesser Penal Code offenses) are directly
filed with the court by police agencies, where in most cases, they
are adjudicated without participation by a deputy district attorney.
The bulk of intake is handled in the two District Attorney municipal
court branch offices, one in the Richmond Court complex and the
other in Concord on Willow Pass Road near the City Civic Center.
The remaining cases representing the many specialized
prosecution units in the office are filed,in the District Attorney's
Office at 10 Douglas Drive, Martinez, the Special Operations Unit
at 651 Pine Street, 12th Floor, Martinez, the old Court House,
downtown Martinez, and the FSD at 50 Douglas Drive.
The misdemeanor cases are handled from start to finish in the
four municipal court jurisdictions in the County -- Bay, Mt. Diablo,
Walnut Creek-Danville, and Delta. Conversely, the felony cases
start in the municipal court branches and then, following a
preliminary hearing or Grand Jury indictment, are transferred to
Superior Court Operations in Martinez for all further proceedings
.through trial and sentencing.
Some felony cases are brought directly to superior court through
the Grand Jury indictment process. Typical cases taken to the
Grand Jury include multiple defendant drug "buys" and sexual
assault cases with sensitive victims.
The intake function of the District Attorney is the single most
critical workload determinant for the entire county justice system --
including courts, Public Defender, jails, and others. Therefore,
every effort is made to place experienced attorneys in both
misdemeanor and felony filing positions. The innovative half-time
lawyer positions for experienced deputy district attorneys (mostly
new mothers) has proven most beneficial for that purpose.
The municipal court division will see citizens and police on a drop-
in basis. Scheduled appointments are the preferred method for
the speciality units.
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The District Attorney has relatively unlimited discretion in the filing
of criminal cases. The law is quite clear that neither the judiciary,
the police, citizen victims, nor any other branch of government can
interfere with or control the case filing process. In actual practice,
the office utilizes the statewide District Attorney Filing Standards
which, in brief, require the prospective case to consist of sufficient,
legally admissible evidence to convince 12 people beyond a
reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt in the face of the most
plausible and reasonably foreseeable defense.
It is improper to file legally insufficient criminal cases simply to
appease victims and police, for publicity, for political reasons, to
satisfy press or public demand, or any other such non-professional
reason. The staff is trained in and does, in fact, follow that policy.
2. Family Support
The FSD's essential function is to collect child support from non-
custodial parents for either the custodial parent or to reimburse
the County for welfare payments (AFDC) and child placement
costs. The standards and procedures necessary to accomplish
this mission (case opening, establishment of paternity, location of
assets, obtaining court orders, etc.) are rigidly controlled by
federal and state law and regulations.
The Family Support budget is built upon a model of two-thirds
state reimbursement for approved expenditures coupled with a
bonus or incentive system fashioned upon meeting certain audit
and collection goals. Historically, the "bonus" money has been
sufficient to cover the remaining (one-third) unreimbursed
expenditures, hence no net County cost.
a. Application for services
FSD receives referrals from the County Social Services
Department when aid is granted. FSD then provide the
services as prescribed by regulation in these cases. This
includes Foster Care and MediCal cases. Once the children
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are off aid, FSD continues to provide these services unless the
custodial person requests to close the case. In those cases,
FSD will continue to collect for any arrears owed to reimburse
the welfare system.
In non-aid cases, FSD provides the services as requested by
the parent or custodial person of the child(ren).
b. Services provided
The following services are provided; however, the District
Attorney does not represent the applicant or child. There is no
attorney-client relationship with either.
• Paternity adjudication
• child support establishment
• MediCal support establishment
• child, medical, and spousal support enforcement
FSD does not provide services in the following areas:
• custody
• visitation
• spousal support establishment
• restraining orders
c. Areas of Discretion
Family Support is highly regulated and allows for very little
discretion in services provided.
(1 ) Regulation is by federal law, federal regulation, Federal
Office of Child Support Enforcement, state law, state
regulation, and California Department of Social Services.
The areas of discretion would be limited to office procedures
such as:
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(1 ) Having field offices with welfare to process referrals.
(2) Seeing people by drop-in or appointment.
(3) Requiring the applicant to fill out a written application or
be interviewed to obtain the information.
B. Customer Profile
1 . Criminal
Indirectly, the office serves all County residents plus, in certain
consumer cases, white collar crimes, and environmental cases,
residents of adjoining counties as well as affected victims
throughout the state (for example, the Shell Oil spill).
Directly, the office serves some 25 police agencies located entirely
or partially within the County, including BART, the East Bay
Regional Park District, and the Highway Patrol. In addition, three
state supported narcotic enforcement teams operate within the
County.
Other, less frequent, uses of the District Attorney's resources
include agencies such as the FBI, the state Attorney General, the
County Health Department, and a host of other federal, state, and
local agencies on a sporadic basis.
Finally, individual victims (both persons, businesses, and other
private agencies and groups) use the services on a regular basis.
The office, as a whole, serves the courts.
2. Family Support
a) Custodial Persons
(1 ) Not necessarily a parent, but could be a relative such as
an aunt or grandparent, or other caretaker.
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(2) May be aid or non-aid
(a) Aid includes AFDC, Foster Care placement,
MediCal.
(b) Includes interstate cases.
b) Parents
(1) May be custodial person.
(2) May be opened by non-custodial parent to establish
paternity and/or support orders and/or support
enforcement.
(a) The biggest need for services is by the taxpayer.
(b) It is in all taxpayers' interest to help establish the
legal obligation to support the child(ren) which in
turn allows FSD to obtain orders and collect money
for the family to get off of welfare or stay off of
welfare.
(c) Social policy that all children should know the
identity of their parents.
(3) Those that cannot afford the legal services of a lawyer or
paralegal and who feel intimidated by the legal system
need some sort of legal assistance to obtain child
support in order to stay off of welfare and establish a
parental relationship for their child(ren).
(4) Those with acrimonious relationships who need an
impartial third party to handle the collection and
documentation of payments received.
(5) Also needed to separate the payment of support from the
exercise of visitation.
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(c) Customer Needs in Addition to Our Services
(1 ) Understanding of how the system works and how to work
within its constraints.
(a) A -general handbook, which was written by the
California Department of Social Services, is
available in the lobby at 50 Douglas Drive,
Martinez. There is a County-specific pamphlet that
provides details of Contra Costa County's services.
(b) The issues that arise that are general in nature and
not case specific are:
• What is needed to respond to (i.e., service of
Summons and Complaint).
• How to assist FSD (i.e, provide leads).
• What must be provided to FSD (i.e.,
documentary proof or declaration under penalty
of perjury regarding payment history).
• Limitation of services (what services and
- enforcement actions that cannot be provided.
(2) Understanding of the legal system. This is an area which
is difficult since the office cannot give legal advice.
Therefore, a fine line needs to be walked by the
collection staff, with error on the side of caution.
Currently, FSD refers people to the local Bar Association
for their Pro Per Clinic. The issues that arise are:
(a) Difference between an IV-D,action, a UPA action,
and a dissolution action.
(b) How they can represent themselves in our actions
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or in actions they, or the other party, brings.
(c) Legal concepts.
(3) The new position of Family Court Facilitator will be of
great help in this area.
C. Customer Relationships
1 . Criminal
A primary function of the District Attorney's Office is to make case
filing and disposition decisions on an everyday basis. These
decisions affect people's lives, property, employment, reputation,
freedom, and workload (in the case of police and courts). Not
every decision made is a popular one, particularly ones involving
complex legal and factual issues poorly understood by the lay
public.
There is an appeal process in place for use by police and citizens
who disagree with the intake deputy district attorney's filing
decision. This process extends to the District Attorney, if
necessary.
In victim-sensitive cases (sexual assault, etc.), the assigned
deputy district attorneys work closely with victim's groups such as
Battered Women's Alternatives and Rape Crisis. Every effort is
made to keep victims (and their families as appropriate) informed
of case progress through disposition.
Unfortunately, the District Attorney's Office is not staffed with
victims' advocate case workers.
The District Attorney's Office has been a leading proponent in the
development of an automated access system whereby the courts,
Public Defender, Probation, and the District Attorney can share
court calendar and disposition information. That system has now
been expanded to allow access by police departments. As of this
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writing, not every police agency had acquired the software
necessary to join the system, but all plan to do so.
2. Family Support
a. How customers obtain the services provided:
(1 ) Application or welfare referral.
(2) There is no application fee or means test.
(3) About 1 ,000 cases a month are opened.
b. Customer access:
(1 ) Telephone
(a) There is a Voice Mail Messaging within the VRU so
that those without answering machines can pick up
the answer to their questions in the system instead
of waiting by the phone for a return phone call.
(b) The Voice Tree provides answers to the most
commonly asked questions and access to the
payment history for the last five payments received.
• 13,000 calls come into the VRU monthly. This
averages 788 per workday; 131 on weekends or
holidays.
• 3,000 calls per month leave messages to be
responded to be staff. About 2,000 of these can
be handled by specially trained clerical staff.
• Payment History accessed 5,000 times a month.
This has greatly reduced the flood of calls
asking if the check has come in yet.
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(2) Drop-in
(a) Tuesdays and Thursdays; on average, 525 people
are seen in a month on these days.
(b) Only in special circumstances on Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays. On average, 200
people a month are seen on these days.
(3) Appointments
(a) Only if ready to sign stipulation.
(b) Attorney.
(c) Exceptional circumstances.
(4) Writing
(a) FSD receives about 10,000 to 12,000 pieces of
mail a month and about 550 faxes.
(5) On the average, FSD actively works 6,000 to 7,000 cases
a month. Approximately 2,000 of those are worked
because of mail received on a case.
c. Steps to be more accessible/responsible to customers:
(1) SLMS packet - FSD created a packet to send to NCP's
when they call or come in about a hold on their license.
It enables the office to obtain all the necessary
information to make a determination on their case. Often
the SLMS hold can be handled by mail, instead of the
person having to drop in, if they have made contact at
least two months before the license suspension goes into
effect. FSD has 'dedicated one collection officer to
handle these cases for increased efficiency and
continuity.
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(2) Added temporary account clerks to update spreadsheets
so that those calling for an update on their arrears do not
have to wait for a collection officer to have time to run the
spreadsheet. Only those in which the obligation has
changed since the last spreadsheet must be sent to
Collections. This gives a two to three day turn-around on
the balance update requests.
(3) Increased payment processing staff to speed up the turn-
around time on payments received.
(d) Customer Satisfaction Efforts
(1 ) Customer Service Questionnaires have been handed out
to drop-ins during the past year. It asks them to rate
FSD's service and to offer suggestions for improved
services. From this, the office is beginning to take steps
to make the wait easier. Donations by the Family
Support staff are being used to create an area
designated as a child play area stocked with toys.
(2) Additional clerical staff will be trained to handle more
phone calls which will decrease the drop-ins. There have
been two retirements, three major worker's compensation
leaves, and six temporary collection officers leave in the
past year from the collection staff. Six trained clerical
phone staff were transferred to collections, which
increased the collection staff but left less experienced
staff on the phones for the clerical staff.
(3) FSD has increased the staff involved in resolving
complaints received through outside organizations.
The office has been averaging 20 to 25 complaints a
month for the last year. In January 1996, fewer
complaints were resolved than received. By December
1996, all complaints that came in during a month were
resolved.
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Staff has been meeting quarterly with ACES, a child
support advocacy group to educate their membership
and to assist their members in bringing problems to the
office.
IV. ANNUAL PERFORMANCE
A. Performance Indicators
1 . Criminal
a. An absolute and unquestioned reputation for honesty and
integrity.
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 attorneys
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
(1 ) Criminal Filings
6,290 felonies; 18,251 misdemeanors
The felony filings are down some 8.2% over 1995,
primarily due to the beneficial impact of "Three Strikes",
and other tough new sentencing laws.
(2) A good grasp of the department's morale and work ethic
can be gained from the following data taken from the
1996 Annual Report, Judicial Council of California for
jury trials in Bay Area counties (fiscal year 1994-95).
-20-
FELONY MISDEMEANOR
COUNTY TRIALS TRIALS TOTAL RANK
Contra Costa 246 212 458 1
Santa Clara 200 134 334 2
San Francisco 154 71 225 3
Alameda 126 60 186 4
San Mateo 68 88 156 5
Solano 92 45 137 6
Marin 25 66 91 7
This outstanding achievement 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 (1995
staffing levels); the difference is startling:
Contra Costa 5.33 trials/deputy district attorney
Average other counties 2.04 trials/deputy district attorney
Or, more than two and one-half times the trials per
attorney.
3. Efficiency
The latest available felony conviction data from the State of
California, Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal
Statistics, was published September 30, 1993, for 1992 (the
Bureau has not published the data since due to budget
problems), showed the following superior court conviction
rate:
Contra Costa County 97.6% (second highest in the state)
Statewide average 94.7%
These figures should be fairly representative today and
-21-
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.
2. Family Support
a. Performance Indicators
(1 ) Annual audit time frames under AB 1033.
(2) Percentage of incentives received on collections. Six
percent base incentives can be increased to eleven
percent when in compliance with the AB 1033 time
frames. This can be further increased by three percent
for improvement shown on a historical comparison and
a statewide comparison. These are called Tier II
incentives.
(3) Amount of money collected.
b. Historical Measures
(1 ) AB 1033 Audit
The Audit covers 17 criteria, all of which have numerous
time frames which must be met. The AB 1033 Audit
began in 1991, reviewing actions taken in fiscal year
1990-91. FSD has achieved compliance since AB 1033
began.
(2) Incentive Percentage
(a) Tier II looks at four factors: locate, paternity,
establishment, revenue to administrative cost.
(b) Tier II incentives began in fiscal year 1993-94
based on the results of the fiscal year 1992-93
-22-
audit. This year, 1996-97, FSD will receive 2.25%
Tier II incentives.
Prior years: 1995-96 1.5%
1994-95 0.5%
1993-94 0.5%
(3) Collections
(a) So far, 1996-97 collections have increased over last
year at this same point.
(b) Five-year comparison - up 32%
1995-96 $30,516,920
1994-95 27,941 ,251
1993-94 27,252,808
1992-93 26,073,609
1991-92 23,181 ,876
c. Barriers to Performance
(1 ) Nature of cases
(a) California has 2.2 million open family support
cases. The state reports that only 52.5% of those
cases are collectable. The rest are difficult or
impossible to collect due to:
• Parent in custody, on welfare, or unemployable.
• Parent out of state or out of country.
• Important information is not provided by the
custodial party, such as the name or date of
birth of the father or other identifying
information.
-23-
(2) Inability by regulation to prioritize cases to work
(a) FSD has some 71 ,000 cases. This means that only
37,275 of those cases are collectable, yet the state
regulations mandates work on all of the cases equally,
regardless of the likelihood of collection.
(3) Lack of a functional automation system
(a) Computers can review and compare information must
faster than people. FSD receives between 10 and 15
boxes of printouts each month. If this were on tape,
the computer could process this information in a
matter of hours. FSD does not have the staff to
process this information in the entire month.
(b) A forms generation system would speed production by
current staff.
(c) An automated tickler system would ensure deadlines
are not missed.
(4) Understaffed
Since FSD must function at no net County cost, it cannot
staff to the level needed to efficiently handle 71 ,000 cases
in a manual environment.
If unable to implement SACCS soon, FSD must increase
staffing to just provide adequate coverage. To properly staff
FSD would require County funding and additional building
space.
B. Accomplishments
Implemented Domestic Violence Prosecution Team (four
attorneys, one investigator, one clerk)from five outside sources of
revenue after three consecutive budget requests to form the team
-24-
were denied.
V. CHALLENGES AND NEW DIRECTIONS
1 . Criminal
The criminal division of the District Attorney's Office needs and
deserves a commitment from the Board of Supervisors to provide
stable funding of prosecution programs (domestic violence, drug
dealers, etc.) that will enable the office to withstand the vagaries of
the federal and state grants and other irregular revenue sources.
2. Family Support
a. Challenges
(1 ) Current challenges
(a) SACCS implementation or alternatives during the
delay.
(b) Implementation of 1058 Court Task Force Legislation.
(c) Physical limitations of current floor space includes lack
of room to add new staff, and files have outgrown the
file room and have to be shipped off site.
(d) It is apparent that if the County contributed funds to
the budget, those funds could be leveraged by two-
thirds. For example, $750,000 in additional staff could
be added at a net County cost of $250,000 because
the state would reimburse $500,000 (two-thirds of the
$750,000). And, since the additional staff would
enable Family Support to collect more money and
better meet the audit requirements, more incentive
money would be received which could, in turn, be
used to reduce the County contribution. To date, that
very reasonable proposition has fallen on deaf ears.
-25-
(2) Plans to meet challenges
(a) Execute Service Level Agreements so that FSD does
not face the lack of data processing resources again.
(b) Work closely with court and CFSC on 1058 changes.
(c) Explore additional shift work to accommodate need for
more staff.
(d) Use mainframe to identify (and close, if possible)
many old cases in which Collections cannot locate the
non-custodial parent after three years of attempts, to
make room for new cases. This is a discretionary
closing criteria not often used in the past.
(b) New Directions
(1) Effects of Welfare Reform
(a) It places additional emphasis upon the
collection of child support to replace welfare.
(b) Encourages cooperation by the custodial parent
to assist in the obtaining and collection of child
support.
(c) Will assist parent to obtain employment, which
will allow them to be able to pay support for their
other children that do not live in their home.
(d) May shift the determination of Good Cause and
Non-Cooperation to the FSD.
Possible legislation to increase the Family Support
role to include custody and visitation issues. Also
have had indications that, in the future, FSD may be
mandated to handle cases when food stamps issued
-26-
to family.
-27
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