In July 2015, the Public Protection Committee (PPC) first considered this matter in response to an April 2015 letter from the Racial Justice Coalition to the Board of Supervisors . After PPC discussion and direction, staff returned with a comprehensive report to the PPC in September 2015 with data related to race in the local justice system, the County’s Workplace Diversity Training, and information regarding outside diversity and implicit bias trainings.  
  
In November 2015, the PPC discussed the data from the September 2015 staff report and how it compared to the County’s 2008 report on Disproportionate Minority Contacts (DMC) in the local juvenile justice system. This led to joint recommendations to the PPC in December 2015 by the Chief Probation Officer, District Attorney, and Public Defender that included:  
  
  
1. The County convene a Task Force to revisit and expand upon the findings of the County’s 2008 juvenile justice DMC report,  
  
2. The County enter into a contract for a facilitator to help guide the Task Force through this process, and  
  
3. A researcher be paid to help the Task Force collect and analyze data during the process.

  
In April 2016, the Board of Supervisors accepted recommendations from the PPC to form a 17-member Task Force and approved the composition in September 2016. In September 2016, County Administrator staff worked to develop and release a Request for Proposals to secure “Facilitation and Data Analyst Services” to help guide the work of the Task Force. In February 2017, Resource Development Associates (RDA) was awarded a contract by the Board of Supervisors to provide the facilitation and data analysis services to the Racial Justice Task Force. From April 2017 through June 2018, the Task Force met to review data on local criminal and juvenile justice systems and processes, discuss best practices and emerging practices for addressing racial disparities in those systems and processes, and develop recommendations for action to address those disparities.   
  
On July 24, 2018, the Board of Supervisors adopted the "Racial Justice Task Force - Final Report and Recommendations" with the exclusion of recommendations #18 and #19, which included the recommendation to create a Racial Justice Oversight Body. (Recommendations #18 and #19 were referred to the Public Protection Committee for further input from the Racial Justice Task Force and the Sheriff's Office.)  
  
The Racial Justice Oversight Body will be composed of the following 18 representatives:  
  
1. A representative from the Superior Court, as a non-voting member;  
2. The Sheriff or his designee;  
3. The Chief Probation Officer or his designee;   
4. The Public Defender or her designee;   
5. The District Attorney or her designee;  
6. A representative from a local law enforcement agency, nominated by the Contra Costa County Police Chiefs’ Association;  
7. A representative from the Contra Costa County Office of Education;  
8. A representative from a Local School District;   
9. A representative from Contra Costa County Health Services Department; and   
10. Nine community-based representatives, including: two members of the Contra Costa Racial Justice Coalition, two individuals with prior personal criminal or juvenile justice system involvement, three representatives from community-based organizations (CBO) that work with justice involved populations, including at least one person who works directly with youth, one representative from a faith-based organization, and one representative that is either a school age young person, or from a CBO who provides services to school age youth.  
  
On September 18, 2018, a six-week recruitment process was initiated to fill the seven (7) community-based seats. The Racial Justice Coalition was allowed to select their two nominations. The deadline for submissions was November 2, 2018 and the County received a total of 14 applications.  
  
On November 13, 2018, the PPC approved the nominations for appointment to the Racial Justice Oversight Body identified in Attachment A.  
  
On November 14, 2018, the Racial Justice Task Force met with Assistant Sheriff Matthew Schuler and Captain Steve Simpkins to further discuss the grievance and detention conditions oversight processes for the Sheriff's Office. At the conclusion of the conversation, the Task Force voted (10-1) to recognize the legal limitations in establishing an independent grievance process for individuals in custody in the County's adult detention facilities and establishing an independent monitoring body to oversee conditions of confinement without the cooperation of the Sheriff's Office. This legal limitation led to the conclusion that recommendations #18 and #19 should be removed from the Report (approved 10-2).