DeKalb Times

DeKalb County Law & Justice Committee met Feb. 24.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, February 24, 2020 in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East in Sycamore, Illinois. Committee Chair Dianne Leifheit called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Those members present were Mrs. Karen Cribben, Mr. Jim Luebke, Ms. Linda Slabon, Mr. Paul Stoddard, Mr. Jeff Whelan, and Chair Dianne Leifheit. Mr. Tracy Jones was absent. A quorum was established with all six Members present and one absent.

Others that were present included Gary Hanson, Mark Pietrowski, Roger Scott, Jim Burgh, Ashley Carlson, Brian Kerner, Rick Amato, Pete Stefan, John Frieders, Kathy Lampkins, and Kevin Solari.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

It was moved by Mr. Whelan, seconded by Ms. Slabon and it was carried unanimously by voice vote to approve the agenda as presented.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mr. Luebke moved to approve the minutes of the January 27, 2020 Committee Meeting. Mr. Stoddard seconded the motion and it was carried unanimously.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no public comments.

MONTHLY REPORTS

The DeKalb County Public Defender’s January Report along with the Court Services Adult, Juvenile, and Pretrial Reports, as well as the Sheriff’s Jail Report were all distributed to the Committee and placed on file.

APPROVAL OF NEXT PHASE OF COURTHOUSE RECONFIGURATION PROJECT

Mr. Hanson introduced Mr. Brian Kerner from Dewberry Architects and shared that he was present to update the Committee on where they are in the reconfiguration project. He also reminded the Committee that in the Resolution that the Board adopted on May 15, 2019 stated: “The Law & Justice Committee is authorized to review the project, with input from the Departments utilizing Courthouse space, at the completion of the "Design Development Phase", at which point about 50% of the above authorized architect services will have been consumed, and then the Law & Justice Committee shall determine if the project should move forward from that point to the next phase of the project which would be developing "Contract Documents"; before the project moves past the "Contract Documents" phase, which would be for the "Bidding" and "Construction" phases, both the Finance Committee and the County Board first need to approve any additional monies for this project.”

Mr. Hanson noted that at the end of Mr. Kerner’s presentation, he will be asking for the Committee to approve moving the project onto the Contract Documents phase.

Mr. Kerner explained that during the first visit their typically do a schematic design, this is where they review the existing conditions that are in the Courthouse, they figure out what the program is with the end-user. Dewberry did meet with all of the staff members to review the plans and after multiple variations of each one, they moved to the Design Development phase. This is where they get into a little more detail. The mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers came out and reviewed all of the conditions and refined the floor plans to once again meet with the staff members to make sure they are going in the right direction. Once confirmed they develop refined ceiling plans, casework elevations, and what equipment will be needed in the spaces, what and where finishes would go, general HVAC layouts, door schedules, and begin the specifications. He reiterated that the next phase is the Contract Document phase. This phase is where Dewberry will produce project details (walls, ceilings, casework, etc.), review color palette and material selection, provide detailed review of security items with the Sheriff’s Department, provide detailed review of MEP systems, and continue development of specifications. If the Board were to continue on with the project the project schedule would be: March – April: complete contract documents, May: bidding, and June: start construction (+/- 12 months).

Mr. Whelan questioned if they were to continue on, where the money would come from. Mr. Hanson noted that they have not identified where the money for the entire project is going to come from.

When asked about a possible budget, Mr. Hanson shared that his planning number (*not an actual estimate, simply used for planning*) is somewhere around $1.5 million.

Mr. Whelan moved to allow the Courthouse Reconfiguration Project to proceed forward onto the Contract Documents Phase. Mr. Luebke seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously by voice vote.

ALLIANCE FOR HOPE PROGRAM

DeKalb County State Attorney Rick Amato invited the Committee and all of the County Board to a free two-day Strangulation, Childhood Trauma, Hope & Collaboration event that is being provided by Alliance for Hope and sponsored by the State’s Attorney Office, Community Mental Health Board, Family Violence Coordinating Council of the IL 16th & 23rd Judicial Circuit, and the Northern Illinois University Police. The event is taking place at Norther Illinois University’s Holmes Student Center in DeKalb, IL on Tuesday, March 10th and Wednesday, March 11, 2020.

Mr. Amato went on to shared that he believes problems ranging from mass shootings to opioid addiction can be curbed by addressing domestic violence. The two days of training are being offered to help begin discussions on how any professional or community member can help in the fight on domestic violence.

DeKalb County is not immune to the problem of domestic violence. Mr. Amato shared that rarely a day goes by where someone is not charged with domestic battery. 440 people were charged with misdemeanor or felony domestic battery in DeKalb County last year, and the County is on pace to charge 350 people with misdemeanor domestic battery this year.

The first day of the training is Tuesday and focuses on strangulation. 70 percent of domestic violence victims have been strangled before, and he says it has ties to other crimes. Mr. Amato noted that both in 2017 and 2018, 75-80% of the intentional homicides against police officers in our country have been at the hands of somebody who has a domestic violence and strangulation background. Likewise, when we have our mass shooters, there’s very often a tie to domestic violence and strangulation. The Pulse nightclub shooting, the Jason Aldean shooting, even the Aurora shooting, the France shooting, every one of those perpetrators have a history of domestic violence and strangulation. That is a call to action for all of us to think about domestic violence in a different way because it affects so many things, Mr. Amato shared.

The second day of training on Wednesday is on the trauma to children who experience domestic violence. Amato says they’re 46-hundred percent more likely to become addicted to opioids and can live up to 20 years less than those who don’t experience domestic violence. He added that these children absorb this trauma, they carry it with them, it carries with them for the rest of their life and we’ve seen that those that are around this type of trauma day in and day out have a future that has health problems, poor decisions, often criminal behavior.

Mr. Amato shared some PowerPoint slides with the Committee that was from the Alliance for Hope presentation.

Lastly Mr. Amato shared that if any of the Board Members can do both days that is great but if they can only do one that is okay too. The training is at the NIU Holmes Student Center on Tuesday and Wednesday. Registration begins at 7:15 a.m. Training begins at 8 a.m. and goes to 4:30 p.m. The training is free.

SHERIFF’S BODY CAM PRESENTATION

DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott and Lt. Jim Burgh shared with the Committee that they believe in and are in support of the concept of the use of body cameras and believe the technology would be valuable asset for the Sheriff’s Office and citizen alike. However, there are significant costs, logistical, and related issues that need to be addressed in conjunction with implementing the program.

The Sheriff shared that since the late 1990’s the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office has been involved with video retention and storage from traffic stops and related incidents. With the implementation of body cameras that storage will increase significantly, and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests will increase as well which will result in increased workload for duplicating, redaction and storage because the cameras must be used on virtually every call or incident, when the deputy leaves the vehicle. The increased storage need can be dealt with, however the increased workload for secretarial staff must also be recognized and addressed.

The Sheriff’s foremost concern is the secretarial staff’s capacity to respond to the increased FOIA requests that would come with the implementation of body cameras. FOIA requests have already become an every-increasing burden on the office’s limited secretarial staff. Over the past decade through legislative action, and the Attorney General’s Office direction there is virtually no limit to issuance of police reports and investigations through FOIA once an investigation is completed. Almost all such requests must be granted at no charge, except for videos which they are allowed to charge a fee for the materials. All media FOIA requests must be filled within 5 business days of receipt.

Body camera video demands through FOIA will fall upon the secretarial staff to fulfill. This is not simply duplicating, but extensive review and redacting of faces and names of individuals or witnesses that appear on the video who are not the officer, a subject of the encounter, or directly involved in the encounter and of course juveniles as well. The Sheriff’s Administrative Secretary Ashley Carlson was also present to share in more detail how many FOIA’s the Sheriff’s Office receives annually and how long each may take. She added that the time involved for redaction is about 6x the length of the video segment. So, if the video segment is 15 minutes in length, the redaction would take approximately 90 minutes. In addition, if multiple officers are involved at the scene, each of their camera’s footage is subject to FOIA as well.

Lt. Burgh stated that redaction and duplication are not an option. In 2016, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office Public Access Bureau stated, “a law enforcement agency that uses officer worn body cameras must comply with all provisions of the body camera including redaction equipment.thus an agency must not only possess camera equipment that complies with technical requirement of the act- but also redaction equipment.”

The fact that the cameras would be required to be used 24/7 by ever deputy, they will generate video that will far exceed the in-car videos that the office now processes which are primarily limited to traffic events and requires little redaction. The Sheriff stated that this along with the current FOIA workload demand requires, is why he would be seeking adjustments to secretarial staff, if the Board were to implement the body cam program. The adjustments would be to adjust his current Part-Time Secretary B to a Full-Time Secretary B. This would be an annual cost increase of $45,000.00 and an upgrade to his current Secretary B to an Administrative Secretary which would be an increase of $6,600.00. Total cost for the personnel adjustment increase would be approximately $51,600.00 annually. This Administrative Secretary would be the Sheriff’s Office’s primary FOIA video person, along with additional related duties.

Lt. Burgh shared that he has been in contact with Kustom Signals Inc., who is already providing cameras for the Vehicle Video System. He showed the Committee what type of body cam the Patrol Offices and Detectives would be wearing and passed it around for all to see. He also briefly discussed server storage and where the docking stations for the cameras would be located.

The Sheriff also shared that as the Committee/Board consider this program, he strongly recommends that this program be extended to the Corrections staff working in one of the most dangerous and liability vulnerable areas in law enforcement, the County Jail. Sheriff Scott reviewed the cost estimates for the Body Cam Program with the Committee. Chairman Pietrowski agreed that Correction Officer cams are vital to officer safety and would like to see them implemented as well.

The Sheriff was asked if he has spoke to other surrounding counties and if they have body cams. He shared that so far, many surrounding counties do not have them simply due to cost and the added workload.

Mr. Amato shared that preparation and review time for trials that involve video now takes a significant amount of time more, so by adding more video, there would be a potential ripple effect that may cause future staffing requests in the State’s Attorney’s Office and Public Defender’s Office due to the implementation of body cams.

The Sheriff’s handout estimated the total cost of the project to be about $91,000.00 - $92,000.00. Mr. Hanson explained that the initial start-up costs would come from the Opportunity Fund and there wouldn’t be any issues with doing that but the challenge is going to be to find a way to budget the on-going costs in the General Fund.

The Sheriff added that as the Board knows the Sheriff’s Office has budget discussions with the Board every year. This program is going to be new and there are going to be added and ongoing expenses. Right now, the Office struggles at times to just meet the budget parameters that are set for them. He won’t give up deputies for cameras, the Sheriff added.

Mr. Whelan moved to forward a Resolution to the full County Board approving the Body Camera Operational Plan outlined by the County Sheriff via the Finance Committee to identify the appropriate funding for the program. Mr. Luebke seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously.

SHERIFF’S DISPATCHING AGREEMENTS

Mr. Hanson explained that the Sheriff’s Dispatching Center is broken up into two difference groups. The main group this is being discussed tonight are the entities that had a dispatching center approved in the original referendum back in the 1990’s. There were six dispatching centers approved in that referendum. Sycamore and Genoa are two that later decided not to do their own dispatching services, so they folded into the County. That is why they pay a fee to the County that is a lot larger than the smaller communities.

Off and on through the years, Board Members may have often heard complaints regarding the cost of the dispatching service. In 2016, a five-year agreement was put in place in order to try and get some stability into the program and hopefully allowed communities to budget further out. There is one more year left of that contract starting July 1, 2020. During the current twelve- month period, Sandwich came onto the County’s Dispatching Center. The reason they did was that the State of Illinois mandated that the number of dispatching centers throughout the state be reduced. So, DeKalb County went from having four dispatching centers down to two. Sandwich folded into the County and NIU folded into the City of DeKalb. With that consolidation came a free from Sandwich to do their dispatching services. There is also an agreement within the Dispatching Agreements that the County would share any savings if new monies came in. There is now an opportunity to do that, which Mr. Hanson believes will be very well received by Sycamore, Genoa and the Genoa-Kingston Fire Protection District. Because it is almost at the end of the five-year agreement, this is also a chance to put a new five-year agreement in place. Conversations have started and so far, everyone is happy with the new arrangement.

Mr. Hanson requested the ability to move forward with this plan and bring back the five-year agreements to the April Meeting. He would to have the time for the other entities to approve this plan before he was to being them back to the Committee.

Mr. Stoddard moved that he was in favor of sharing the money generated from bringing in Sandwich’s dispatching services with Sycamore, Genoa and Genoa-Kingston Fire Protection District and bring back new five-year dispatching agreements with the three entities to the Committee in a couple months. Mrs. Cribben seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Mr. Stoddard, seconded by Mr. Lubke, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 8:06 p.m.

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