ER - Victim witness program funds sought by county

The Eureka Reporter/Nathan Rushton
Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos answers questions from the Board of Supervisors regarding the work of the Victim Witness Program employee positions.

Victim witness program funds sought by county
by Nathan Rushton, 5/18/2005

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors again Tuesday held over — this time for several weeks — any action on whether to disallocate four district attorney’s Victim Witness Program positions.

Following Tuesday’s discussion, which identified a breakdown in communications between the board members and Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos and his staff, the parties agreed to seek a funding solution for the continuation of the services.

Last week’s agenda item to decide whether to begin the layoff process for the four victim witness positions in July, following a notification of a rejected U.S. Department of Justice grant application, was scheduled to be routinely approved in last week’s consent calendar by the board.

Consent agenda items are usually approved by the board without comment.

The agenda item was pulled for discussion by Fifth District Supervisor Jill Geist, which sparked numerous questions from board members about the exact duties of the positions at risk of being cut, as well as whether a subsequent grant to the Department of Justice, which was filed in January, would be able to fund this year’s program.

The board members unanimously agreed to continue the matter over one week so they could have more information before making any decision.

Last week, a news release from the District Attorney’s Office stated that it had no intention of eliminating the program or walking away from the many people who receive services under the program each year.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Geist recounted the cuts to the District Attorney’s Office staff in the past year, including two positions that were eliminated from the office’s Child Abuse Services Team program in August.

She said with that, the failure to secure the grant funding for four Victim Witness Program positions for the upcoming year, along with another pending grant application for District Attorney’s Office services that is in question of being funded, there was a “systematic erosion of services.”

“You don’t have a very big office, so from a cumulative standpoint there is a trend that is starting to occur to me,” she said.

Humboldt County District Attorney’s Program Coordinator Joyce Moser also addressed the board to clarify the role of the victim witness program and how it is funded.

She said there are 10 people employed in the Victim Witness Program, which is funded through a number of sources, including the California Office of Emergency Services, California State Board of Control and the U.S. Department of Justice. It is the Justice Department grant that is at risk of being cut.

She said it was reported that the Victim Witness Program handles 500 cases each year, but in fact, that number only represents one part of the office’s case load.

She said the Victim Witness Program assists about 3,000 “contacts” each year, not 500 individuals, which she said was reported last week.

“I don’t want to say individuals, because often times we see people six to eight times,” Moser said. “We are in people’s lives for years.”

Moser said she had been looking into other funds to supplement the program, including an Assembly bill, which if passed could nearly double the amount of money that is distributed by the state for victim witness programs.

“I am very sad we lost this grant,” Moser said. “There will be an impact to victims.”

She said the reality of the situation was that one person cannot do the work of four and the office would be relying on outside agencies to take on the added work.

Last week, Geist said she contacted the District Attorney’s Office and was informed by its staff, that, because the county had received funds for 10 years under the Department of Justice grant and because the county couldn’t make any further improvements to the program itself, the grant was being denied.

Geist said none of the information she received from the DA’s office was provided for in the staff report for the matter brought before the board as an agenda item, with the exception of the grant denial letter that included several pages of critiques — most of it about deficiencies.

“There was nothing in that critique which indicated that there was a 10-year cap for funding, that is the reason that I pulled that item off of the agenda” Geist said. “I need to hear from you or your representatives as to how we keep from seeing a systematic erosion of these services.”

She asked if there was a way the county could identify a solution to ensure that those services could be preserved and suggested the board could help distribute and diversify the workload among the county’s departments so the services could be maintained.

Gallegos also said a number of the people in the District Attorney’s Office have been the victims of crime, including himself.

He said because of those personal experiences, they were intimately aware of the value of the program’s services to the community and to individuals.

“First of all, the Victims Witness Program is not going away,” Gallegos said. “It has never been proposed to be eradicated.”

Gallegos said despite the loss of grants in past years, his office has tried to increase the services of victim witness and reach out to the tribal communities, which have been neglected or haven’t received enough services through the county, he said.

Gallegos also mentioned an alternative plan that recommended the funds for the Victim Witness Program be paid out of county’s general fund.

“Until our homes are safe, our streets will not be safe,” Gallegos said. “Our office is absolutely committed to domestic violence and consequences for people who commit domestic violence.”

Gallegos said one of the requirements that the granting agency looks for is whether the county has demonstrated the commitment to sustain the project after the grants have ended.

Gallegos said he and his predecessor in the office, Terry Farmer, have worked for the past 10 years to make the Victim Witness Program self-sustaining.

“(The grant) was not intended to be a subsidy for the county,” Gallegos said. “It was intended to enable this county to build up a structure and framework to facilitate its own rescue.”

In an emotional account of their own experiences with the victim witness services, several women explained to the board how important the program was for them to be able to go through the court process, get back on their feet and to feel respected.

Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.

Related:
ER - Interview Process Cuts Down On Trauma Of Children 5/6/04
Losing the Victim Witness Grant
ER - Board of Supervisors talks over grant denial for program 5/11/2005
NCJ - VICTIM PROGRAM THREATENED: 5/12/05
ER - Gallegos says program is safe 5/15/2005
ER - Victim witness program funds sought by county 5/18/2005
TS - Proposed cuts to victims program delayed May 18, 2005
TS - My Word - DA leadership: The 8-step program May 24, 2005
County to fund Victim Witness Program The Eureka Reporter 6/8/2005
Supes mull grant application 5/14/07