Domestic Violence Advisory Committee Meeting Thursday, January 15, Noon DeSoto Police Department Training Room

Transcription

1 Domestic Violence Advisory Committee Meeting Thursday, January 15, Noon DeSoto Police Department Training Room The Domestic Violence Advisory Committee (DVAC) met on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at the DeSoto Police Department Training Room located at 714 E Belt Line Rd, DeSoto, TX. The following committee members were in attendance: 1. Marikay Dewberry 2. Curtistene McCowan, Mayor Pro Tem 3. Denise Valentine 4. Gwendolyn Jones, Secretary 5. Linda Zander, Vice-Chair 6. Trudy Lewis, Chair 7. Thelma Clardy 8. Willie Sublett I. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Chair Trudy Lewis at 12:15PM II. INVOCATION: Prayer was conducted by Pastor Willie Sublet. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Correction to December 18, 2014 minutes: Section 6: DeSoto City is eligible to receive $20, additional in CDBG funds as a result of a direct HUD grant recipient. Section 6: Minutes corrected to reflect Teen Dating Violence Month Section 7: Minutes corrected to reflect Summertime on Beltline is held is the summer not in February. Minutes were approved by Denise Valentine and Linda Zander. IV. PRESENTATION OF SUB-COMMITTEE REPORTS MUNICIPAL COURT - Denise Valentine met with Judge Kurth regarding Class C misdemeanors to determine what happen in these cases. Judge Kurth started with the arrested Class C misdemeanors. Sgt Melissa Franks commented that police officers have the duty to prevent further violence. They can issue a citation to leave or if they believe there will be further violence they can make an arrest. 1

2 Discussion about Class C misdemeanors when there is no arrest. The general process is as follows: A court date is issued Offender pleads not guilty (generally) Ask for a jury trial (not many jury trials) often the victim do not show up for plea or anything Victims are served and asked to come to court Case is dismissed (if the victim don t show up) If the case goes all the way through and the victim shows up and spoke, jury determines guilty or not guilty, guilty offender is accessed a fine up to $ If offender pleads guilty (confessing they really didn t do it) and pay the fine. In those cases Judge Kurth often sends them to The Lighthouse Ministries (same place Ministers on Call (DPAC) receive their certification training). Certification training provided to Ministers on Call (DPAC) is a new subset of The Lighthouse Ministries. They also provide extended Christian counseling training and hold a graduation periodically at Cedar Valley College for those completing the training. Judge Kurth believes in Christian counseling and will send the offender to The Lighthouse Ministries for court mandated counseling. Judge Kurth commented he has issues with court mandating an offense on a guilty plea. If you re pleading guilty you don t have to go to counseling you can just pay the fine, but he will do it. Most people that he sends to counseling will go. Pro Tem Curtistene McCown: The offender will plead guilty rather than no contest? Trudy Lewis: For those pleading guilty the Judge will both mandate counseling through The Lighthouse Ministries and access a fine? Answer: The fine is $ The counseling is $ and both is paid by the perpetrator. The judges focus is on perpetrators and Ministers on Call is more slanted toward the victim, sometimes they can address both. Counseling order by the judge is based on who the aggressor is. The Lighthouse Ministry does not provide drug counseling and was not addressed by Judge Kurth. Offenders with drug issues will have to be referred out. Deferred adjudication (deferment) Judge Kurth handles quite a few of these cases and will issue a 6 month deferment when offenders pleads guilty and follow the rules for the determined time period. Protective Orders Judge Kurth doesn t always issue a protective order but when he does it s issued for thirty one day (cooling off period) protective order for Class C Misdemeanor. This was specific to adult offenses, there was no discussion on juvenile offenses. Juvenile cases have to be dealt with in juvenile court. 2

3 Trudy Lewis: Does Judge Kurth issue with the protective order during the cooling period any sort of counseling? Answer: No, he does not. Denise Valentine: If Judge Kurth is present what kind of questions DVAC would want to ask him in order to prepare him to address the committee s inquiries? 1. Trudy Lewis: When it comes to recidivism how will he judge in that case from a first time? 2. Marikay Dewberry: Breakdown of various Class C s and the distribution and the judges outcome. Get a snapshot of what happened to each of the cases. DeSoto Police will help to provide stats. The court doesn t report back to the police on the each case. 3. Denise Valentine: What month should stats be provided for on outcomes? May & June. 4. Trudy Lewis: To what extent is a gap since there s only Christian counseling (Lighthouse Ministries) for people seeking the services that they need. There also should be other alternatives. 5. Ask Judge Kurth the % of people who go to counseling and would he consider other counseling? Thelma Clardy: Two family violence courts in Dallas County, County Criminal Court 4 & 5.They can order counseling, drug treatment, drug test, Batterer Intervention Program (BIPP). Protective Orders issued in District Court is up to 2 years, use to be only 1 year. Municipal Court jurisdiction is limited and District Courts can do more. Sgt. Melissa Franks: Only Class C will go to Municipal Court. Class A Misdemeanor or above will go to District Court. There is no Class B Misdemeanor, it s either class A or felony. Judge Kurth stated he has the option to reduce the fine if the offender goes to counseling. DISD PARTNERSHIPS - Pastor Krohn absent out ill but has had conversation with DeSoto ISD updates will be referred to next month s meeting. Pastor Willie Sublet has nothing to share with the committee at this time. Trudy Lewis, Chair: The committee is interested in finding out what sort of programs were happening now in DeSoto ISD related to teen violence awareness, what the schools are seeing and what they do. Are there intervention activities for children who are victims of domestic violence, etc. Not sure what is currently happening. SERVICE PROVIDER REPOSITORY Marikay Dewberry: continues to research to find organizations that could be resources for youth, perpetrator, adults for marriage counseling, shelters, supplies for neighboring homes, etc. 75 have been validated 3

4 so far. Last meeting it was determine to go further than the 25 miles. There s a lot of crossover with agencies listed with DeSoto Police and Clergy (DPAC) and the current church list of resources. Some agencies only counsel youth or drug abuse only, etc. Sub-committee will provide a spreadsheet identifying the available resources per agency. COMMUNTY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) Trudy Lewis: DeSoto is now eligible to be a direct recipient of CDBG funds because city has crossed over population threshold in order to qualify for the funds. DeSoto will have an additional $20, funds over and beyond the $100, Confirmed date for the Town Hall Meeting (Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 10:00am, City Council Chambers, 211 E. Pleasant Run Rd) to hear from citizens to input and thoughts for a formal submission to HUD for usage of the CDBG funds. In preparation for the DVAC to participate in the formal process and provide a recommendation, the subcommittee provided the following four ideas that are open for discussion for direction, also need thoughts from the DeSoto Police: 1. Part time counselor for victims Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) contract on part time basis to provide victim services when there s a need for counseling services 2. Part time service coordinator a person follow up with every victim of domestic violence (doesn t provide counseling) able to direct and coordinate any services for victims, child care, counseling, shelter, job training, transportation to get kids to school, etc 3. Part time counselor for abusers due to mandated counseling via municipal court. Needed to help address underlying issues in families that are staying together after domestic violence incidents. Of about the 600 cases in DeSoto, not all of the families are breaking up are typical staying together. What is being done to address these issues? 4. Prevention what can be done to create new programs thru the ISD with elementary, middle, at the high school (would look different depending on the age of the children) level that would look to do program training materials, i.e., Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.), police officer training. Young people don t realize the choices they make. Have programs use role play to help them think about their choices or put themselves at risk. Programs should be an ongoing effort instead of a one time event that would become apart of who they are. The CDJ Grants are coming out and Pastor Curt Krohn will be in attendance and identify the different types of items that can be covered. Domestic violence specifically was mentioned on one of the grants. Police Chief Costa: One of the police reserves is attending the CDJ grants class in preparation to write the grants. Focus is to acquire funding for a domestic violence 4

5 investigator (civilian new hire) and a victim s assistant person. Both positions will be full time. The victim s assistant person will do follow-up not only phone call but possibly door to door. Sgt. Melissa Franks As an School Resource Officer (SRO) Sgt, in the middle school is where we begin to see the development taking place and a lot of problems begin to surface. Primary reason why the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) taught at all the middle schools throughout the school and there is a summer program component. More than just gang resistance, it addresses conflict resolution, drug resistance, getting along with other people, coping mechanisms and giving back to your community. This is a 13 lesson plan that police officers teach within the school system one day during certain periods for every class. Future items to address: sexting, dating violence, sexual violence, mental health issues. Question: Gwendolyn Jones: Are teachers required to go through training in the school to identify sexual violence? Pastor Willie Sublet will provide info at next meeting. Trudy Lewis: Will send out prior to January 24 (Town Hall Meeting) revised statements to be read on behalf of DVAC concerning the committees thoughts regarding the CDBG additional funds. Will send communication via for approval by committee before meeting. V. TEEN DATING VIOLENCE MONTH February is teen dating awareness month. Trudy Lewis requested with the City Secretary to place on the agenda for Feb 3 a proclamation for Mayor Sherman to read about teen violence awareness and prevention month. Will statistics be specific to DeSoto on the proclamation and is there another whereas to be added? Not aware of what the schools have planned for the month? DVAC has talked about Summertime on Beltline, should it be included in the proclamation? Trudy Lewis will speak with Rene Johnson (Parks Director) first before including the Summertime on Beltline in the proclamation. Pastor Willie Sublet will contact Beth Trimble. Include the DVAC committee for branding purposes at the beginning (indicate the City Council of DeSoto has formed ) and at the end (the committees commitment to specific programs) of the proclamation. Trudy Lewis will update the proclamation. Question: Are there specific rates to DeSoto or should the proclamation reflect the national rate at 33%? Marikay Dewberry: Carolyn Campbell (Advisor for City of DeSoto Teen Council) have the proclamation to be presented for teens to receive proclamation. Have DVAC committee members to be present and stand at the City Council meeting on Feb 3 to represent the efforts of the committee on behalf of teens. 5

6 Linda Zander: As it relates to branding should we purchase a pin or ribbon representing DVAC. VI. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (DPAC) PARTICIPATION IN VICTIM ASSISTANCE Pastor Reuben Connor, Chair of Ministers on Call (MOC) DeSoto Police and Clergy (DPAC). Ministers volunteer their time to be on call when a family member, victims and perpetrators request assistance. All MOC are pastors of local churches. All Ministers On Call (MOC) have completed MOC Training Handbook which is specifically designed by The Lighthouse Ministries (a counseling organization teaching how to deal with various situations of counseling throughout America). The training is the first step of commitment and is an intense course for two weeks, Monday Friday. Case studies are reviewed and discussed how the situation could have been handled differently. Techniques include: reducing stress, managing change, hopelessness, fear, anger, guilt, marriage issues (MOC handle a high percentage of incidents dealing with Class C misdemeanors) issues, neglect, abuse, grief and issues which impact an individual s decision making which can lead to domestic violence. All of the MOC are certified to handle domestic situations. They are trained to provide prayer and counseling for families experiencing abuse, car accidents, disruptive behaviors in children, homicide and violence between a parent and child or violence between the other parent over disciplinary actions of the child. Two ways MOC get involved: 1) Partnership with local police after order has been restored. The victim or family member is asked by the police officer if they would like ministerial counseling. If yes, they are given a telephone number to call. If they refuse counseling, it will be noted in the officer s notes and DPAC will have no further involvement regarding the family members decision. If MOC receives a call he will evaluate the call based on their certification training to determine the caller needs counseling. If so, it is referred out to another organization in the community within the DPAC ministry or referred outside of DeSoto to other resources obtained in a DPAC meeting. 2) Police reports are the second way MOC gets involved. Within a two week span they receive incident reports. A specific guideline is followed to help evaluate the situation in determining if the victim or perpetrator needs counseling or referral to other resources. Records are kept of who was spoken to, the outcome and the discussion. The goal is to prevent Class C Misdemeanors from escalating to felonies by providing counseling and additional resources for intervention. MOC have established a Confidentiality Clause and Bylaws that hold them accountable to the service they provide to the community. Question: Linda Zander: What about recidivism and follow up with those who have had incidents? 6

7 Answer: Upon completion of evaluation a majority don t need counseling. Many are unchurched. They are invited to church and to become apart of the membership based on the conversation if receptive. This information is indicated on the form in the follow-up section. They will follow up with 3 calls. Not every incident is followed up but that is an area to be revisited in the future by MOC. Question: Marikay Dewberry: How many ministers are involved? Answer: At this time there are 5 ministers who are certified. The certification training is $ a one time fee and the training is taken one time. Some ministers are not financially able to cover the certification fee. The training is normally a 6 week course but was condensed into two weeks which creates another time factor for ministers. Pro Tem Curtistene McCowan: Can ministers who have been trained conduct the training for DPAC ministers. Answer: We can repeat the process the problem is minister receiving certification from the training. Linda Zander: Are you a 501(c)3? Answer: No, DPAC is not 501(c)3 Sgt. Melissa Franks: Class C Misdemeanor is defined as a threat that is immediately carried out to an offensive contact, verbal, slap, etc. The presence has to be there to be carried out and considered a Class C. VII. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEW BUSINESS: Trudy Lewis: Start thinking about a strategic plan for the DVAC committee to start addressing. Example was passed out to members. Will be placed on future agenda for more discussion. Pro Tem Curtistene McCowan: Is it possible to sponsor more ministers by allocating the $ for certification training to increase the numbers of MOC to more than 5 ministers. Trudy Lewis: As part of the $10, for the current year would love to see the numbers increase more than 5 and something that is doable. Linda Zander: Under awareness we can have purple pinwheels for every victim of every incident in DeSoto represent the victim by planting them around the Town Center, Police Dept, schools, etc for visual impact and how it impacts DeSoto City. Trudy Lewis: Sent out link of Irving Family Advocacy Center for the committees review. Police Chief Costa: DeSoto PD Care non profit are looking for executive board members. Send suggestions. Pro Tem Curistine McCowan: Recommended attorney Gwendolyn Hunt. 7

8 Linda Zander: Irving Family Advocacy conducts a once month volunteer orientation tonight. Can forward the s to those interested in knowing about how the advocacy center works. Where I Now Gain Success (WINGS), a high school dropout recovery program graduation class is January 21, 2015 for a total of 330 graduates at the DeSoto High School. The program started 5 years ago thru a grant but now is a full time program to help students from all over not just DeSoto to receive their high school diplomas. VIII. ADJOURN: Meeting was called to an end by Chair Trudy Lewis at 1:55PM. NEXT MEETING: 3 rd Thursday, February 19, 2015 at the DeSoto Police Department Training Room, 12 Noon. Please bring lunch to next meet or plan to have lunch before the committee meeting. The DeSoto Police dept have provided lunch in the past but they are not obligated to provide refreshments. MINUTES PREPARED BY: Gwendolyn Jones, DVAC Secretary 8