Department: County Administration
Department Head/Elected Official: David Berry
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Transmittal
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Transmittal by the Office of County Administration on the status of initiatives to reduce violent crime and criminal justice backlog in Harris County.
end
Background and Discussion:
Commissioners Court has made investments in the abatement of violent crime and criminal justice case backlog. This is an update on the overarching impact as well as initiative specific improvements having been made by the various Harris County agencies.
Expected Impact:
The overarching impact is expected to be reduction in violent crime and greater efficiency in the functioning of the Criminal Justice System which includes a reduction in the number of violent crimes per 100,000 persons, number of cases in backlog, as well as hopefully a lower number of individuals in jail awaiting hearing.
Alternative Options:
These are initiatives that tackle the problem of resolving violent crime and criminal case backlog by adding resources across the different departments and agencies.
Alignment with Goal(s):
X Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
_ Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
_ Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
5/25/2021 |
284 |
Discussion item |
|
6/29/2021 |
268/269 |
Discussion item on steps to alleviate backlog and associate judges |
|
7/20/202 |
183 |
Approval of 2.5M in funding for 3 emergency response dockets and 5 additional clerks for NRG support |
|
8/10/202 |
14 |
Approved $890,205 of funding for an additional two County Courts Emergency Response dockets; $547,493 in additional funding for Public Defender staff; $200,000 in additional funding for Sheriff Office and Constable temporary staff for body worn camera processing |
|
8/24/2021 |
13 |
$1.5 million to extend jury operations at NRG during the COVID-I 9 pandemic through December 20, 2021. |
|
9/14/2021 |
19 |
Discussion item |
|
10/12/2021 |
18 |
Approved $657,465 in ARPA funding for 31 temporary positions to process evidence at the DA as well as 3 programmer positions effective October 23, 2021, $1,637,519 in ARPA funding and positions for Associate Judges for the District Criminal Courts effective January 7, 2022 |
|
10/26/2021 |
20 |
Approved funding in the amount of $61,880 and extend the end date to February 11, 2022 for the five clerks that support NRG operations |
|
11/30/2021 |
264 |
Transmittal of initiatives to reduce Criminal Justice Backlog |
|
|
18 |
approval of additional funding in the amount of $234,000 for the Sheriff’s Office to hire seven temporary positions to accelerate processing of the 9-1-1 audio requests |
|
2/22/2022 |
22 |
approval of $8,607,556 in ARPA funding for costs associated with the Criminal Justice backlog related initiatives already approved and additional monies for relocation of Jury operations to the Family Law Center |
|
4/5/2022 |
200 |
Transmittal by the Office of County Administration on the status of initiatives to reduce criminal justice backlog in Harris County. |
|
5/24/2022 |
260 |
Transmittal by the Office of County Administration on the status of initiatives to reduce criminal justice backlog in Harris County |
|
9/13/2022 |
13 |
Approval of $20,155,823 in ARPA Local Fiscal Recovery Funds for continuation and expansion of Court Backlog reduction activities together with investment in child abuse prevention, evidence preservation, and treatment efforts. |
Location:
Address (if applicable): N/A
Precinct(s): Countywide
|
Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
|
Service Name |
|
|
|
FY 23 |
FY 24 |
Next 3 FYs |
|
Incremental Expenditures (do NOT write values in thousands or millions) |
|
Labor Expenditures |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Non-Labor Expenditures |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Incremental Expenditures |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Funding Sources (do NOT write values in thousands or millions) |
|
Existing Budget |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Current Budget |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Additional Budget Requested |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Additional Budget Requested |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Funding Sources |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
|
Current Position Count for Service |
- |
- |
- |
|
Additional Positions Requested |
- |
- |
- |
|
Total Personnel |
- |
- |
- |
Anticipated Court Date: 10/25/22
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date):
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Gayatri Garg, Director of Performance Analysis, Office of Management and Budget
Attachments (if applicable): Violent Crime and Backlog Update