Agenda

Back to Calendar Return

PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE - SPECIAL MEETING

Meeting Date:	09/10/2018
Subject: Further Input on Certain Racial Justice Task Force Recommendations
Department:	County Administrator
Referral No.:	N/A
Referral Name:	Further Input on Certain Racial Justice Task Force Recommendations
Presenter:	Donté Blue	Contact:	D. Blue, 925-335-1977

Information

Referral History:

The Public Protection Committee accepted the "Racial Justice Task Force--Final Report and Recommendations" as presented on June 25, 2018.

The "Racial Justice Task Force--Final Report and Recommendations" was presented to the Board of Supervisors for adoption on July 24, 2018. Prior to the Board meeting, however, Contra Costa County Sheriff, David O. Livingston, submitted a letter to the Supervisors, and County Administrator’s Office, raising concerns about the age of the data used in the Task Force’s report, and the validity of the conclusions derived from this data. Most importantly, this letter urged the Board to oppose Recommendation #21 (recommending the creation of an independent body to review in-custody grievances), and Recommendation #22(recommending the creation of an adult detention oversight body for conditions of confinement). The reason the Sheriff gave for these objections was that these recommendations exceeded the Task Force's scope of responsibility, the Sheriff is an elected constitutional officer independent of the Board of Supervisors, and the Office of Sheriff-Coroner is already subject to sufficient oversight and audits from the state by way of the Attorney General, Board of State and Community Corrections, and Civil Grand Jury of the Superior Court.

Based on the Sheriff’s comments, the Supervisors received a preliminary opinion from County Counsel as to the Boards ability to act in accordance with the two challenged Task Force’s Recommendations. County Counsel opined that the Sheriff-Coroner enjoyed a level of autonomy over his department’s operation of the County’s jails, and the Board could not unilaterally interfere with this function. Furthermore, while the Board could convene an advisory body to report on information about these operations, gaining access to the information necessary to fulfill this function would still require some level of participation from Office of the Sheriff-Coroner.

The Board then voted to strike Recommendations #18 and #19 (these appear as Recommendations #21 and #22 in the Final Report) before adopting the remainder of the Task Force's 20 recommendations and Final Report. In a separate motion, the Board referred the two stricken recommendations back to the Public Protection Committee with direction to gather input from the Sheriff and Racial Justice Task Force to determine if there was some version of these recommendations that can be agreed upon and returned to the Board for reconsideration at a future date.

On August 6, 2018, the Public Protection Committee met and considered this item. After consideration, the committee directed staff to convene the Task Force for a meeting to provide clarity as to what is meant by oversight, and requested County Counsel to attend the meeting to advise as to the authority the BOS has in this regard.

The Task Force meeting was subsequently scheduled for September 5, 2018 at 2pm.

Referral Update:

To be provided orally at the meeting.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

Staff recommends the Committee take the following action:

ACCEPT further input from the Task Force and the Sheriff in regards to Recommendations Nos. 18 and 19, and REFER the Recommendations, with any appropriate amendments, back to the Board of Supervisors for adoption.

Attachments
Final RJTF Memo - Revised
Sheriff Letter to BOS
LA County - Office of Inspector General
LA County - Civilian Oversight Commission
LA County - Sheriff MOA with Inspector General
Santa Clara County - Office of Correction and Law Enforcement Monitoring