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Dunn County CJCC agrees to govern overdose fatality review team and receive annual reports
Summary
The CJCC agreed to serve as the governance/oversight body for a proposed Dunn County Overdose Fatality Review Team (OFRT). Public health staff said opioid settlement funds would support the team and that the team aims to produce recommendations to prevent future overdose deaths.
The Dunn County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council executive committee agreed to provide governance for a proposed Overdose Fatality Review Team (OFRT) and to accept annual reports and recommendations from the team.
Lindsay Wyatt, identified in the meeting as a public health educator and guest, described an overdose fatality review team as "a team of interdisciplinary individuals across healthcare, public health, law enforcement, schools, to look at the factors that could have contributed to a fatal overdose." She said the team would examine decedents’ interactions with services and systems to draft recommendations aimed at preventing future overdose deaths.
Wyatt told the committee Dunn County does not currently have a fatality review team and that opioid settlement dollars are available to start the OFRT. "Our goal here is really to just kind of provide the space for our experts to come together," she said, and she said she would serve as facilitator, data collector and recommendations coordinator if the team proceeds.
Committee members discussed how law enforcement investigations would interface with the OFRT and raised resource concerns. Sheriff Bigg asked whether funding would be available to pursue prosecutions if that became a recommendation; Chief Colossus and other law enforcement representatives described multi-agency task forces that investigate illegal supply chains but noted investigative work would remain separate from the OFRT process.
Director Paula Winter moved that the CJCC provide oversight of the OFRT and that the CJCC receive an annual report of cases and recommendations; County Board Chair Kelly McAuliffe seconded the motion. The committee approved the governance role by voice vote.
Staff said the OFRT would review roughly two overdose deaths that come through the Eau Claire and Dunn County medical examiner’s offices per report cycle, would invite experts from multiple fields and could expand later to review other preventable deaths if successful.
