VICTIM SERVICES SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING

Members in attendance: Patricia Rego, Tammy Hill; Elizabeth LaBroscian; Jenna Greenwood; Ryan LaBroscian; Nikki Dobbs

Members absent: Rick Spoentgen; Linda Hoffman; Ryan Werner

Alternates Present: Emily Ecklund

Public Present:  Lt. Andrew Stelter; Kristi Seidl; Steve Pate; Jaime Sathavism; Lori Follendorf

Call to order – 3:02PM – certify compliance w/ open meeting law

Agenda: Motion to adopt by Rego; second by Greenwood; adopted my unanimous vote

            No discussion

Minutes: 2/24/21 minutes – Motion to adopt by Greenwood; second by R. LaBroscian; adopted by unanimous vote

            No discussion

Public Comment: none

Agency Updates/Intros –

• BPD has 2 officers in field training.  They internally posted the vacant detective position and plan to have them start in June.  A new hire is already lined up to take the vacancy on patrol created by detective appointment.  Will be fully staffed at that point.  Still experiencing high numbers of DV and SA.
• Deb O’Rourke will be leaving DA’s office.  New attorney starting in June.  ADA Ecklund’s grant position runs out in August. She is trying to extend by applying for the same and some new grants.  Will know in October whether or not grant funds are awarded.
  • ADA Ecklund reported on her DV experience.  Referred cases in 2020 was 413, which is up 26% from 2019 and up 39% from 2016.  DA’s office charged 342 of those referrals, which is up 43% from 2019 and 37% from 2016.
• CPS worker, Amanda Mohr, is currently enrolled in the mentor certification program to become a FTI.  Director Dan Bradsett announced his retirement in August of this year.  CPS is “working like a well-oiled machine”.  Hill disseminated the Overdose Death Review Committee’s annual report to members to
• CJCC is looking to potentially restructure subcommittees to avoid the issue of meeting quorum.  Juvenile justice is seeking law enforcement presence on the committee.  Cathy Warwick announced her retirement in June of 2021.
• Hope House has their shelter up and running, advocates are now in the office their full hours and services will be rolled out as previously experienced.  LaBroscian offered again to speak to Law Enforcement agencies to do a review of services as they re-open them.  This presentation was given to Reedsburg Police Department and was viewed as helpful by officers.
• Probation and Parole had no updates

Trends and Concerns-

• ADA Ecklund reported on her DV experience.  Referred cases in 2020 was 413, which is up 26% from 2019 and up 39% from 2016.  DA’s office charged 342 of those referrals, which is up 43% from 2019 and 37% from 2016
• Hill disseminated the Overdose Death Review Committee’s annual report to members that backs the committee’s discussion on the correlation between domestic violence and substance use.

DART discussion

• Discussion on increase in Sauk County.  E. LaBroscian suggested discussions resume on potentially implementing the LAP assessment with law enforcement to administer in-field.  She will disseminate resources prior to next meeting and a discussion will be on the agenda for April’s meeting.
• Identified a goal of these discussions to be potentially creating a civilian response team to assist law enforcement in responding to DV calls.  R. LaBroscian articulated difficulties in law enforcement’s responsibility while responding to DV calls and that BPD is researching possibility of having a social worker on staff to respond to help meet victim’s needs.  Sathasivam offered to reach out to Madison PD to gain insight into how they successfully implemented a similar program.

Update on CAC:

• Greenwood gave a brief update on progress made for new attendees.  She requested discussion on renaming the endeavor.  Please submit suggestions to E. LaBroscian.
• Steve Pate of Sauk County MIS confirmed the needs of this project and explained the bid he received on the necessary equipment. 
  • $12,000 but with items that are questionably unnecessary.  He believes it can be successfully done at $10,000. 
  • The plan is to store the recorded info on a computer that is designated for these purposes and can be transferred to disciplines as needed.  LE can leave thumb drives in the desk and the MDT will save recorded interview on department specific drives.  
    • Chain of custody concerns raised and discussed.  The process would mirror how Safe Harbor shares the recorded interviews.
  • Off site viewing of interviews was brought up.  Hill voiced  the importance of in person representation and concerns of the unintended consequences of that dwindling if off-site viewing is possible.
• E. LaBroscian will create a detailed list of FTI’s in Sauk County with contact information so that logistics discussions can begin.
• Greenwood is continuing to work on the layout for the designated space.  If anyone in the public would like to see it, contact her.
• Next steps are:
  • Organize contact information of FTI’s and schedule “Practice Sessions” for those that haven’t used their skills in some time.
    • LDPD added 4 FTI’s to the count so the current tally is 19
  • Camera equipment order
    • Finalize equipment needed
    • Finalize approval for financing
  • Outline logistics, referral policy, etc

Next Meeting/Agenda Items: 3P on 4/21/21

• LAP discussion
• Civilian Response Team
• CAC

Adjourn – Motion by R. LaBroscian – Second by Rego – unanimous vote – 4:00PM

Respectfully submitted,

Elizabeth LaBroscian

Hope House ICJR Advocate