Circuit 13 advisory board members reviewed a department presentation showing that, from December 2023 through November 2024, the circuit issued pre‑arrest delinquency citations to roughly 60–62% of eligible youths while 299 eligible youths were arrested instead of being offered a citation.

The presentation said Circuit 13 had 797 pre‑arrest delinquency‑citation‑eligible youths during the period and that the statewide average was about 62.2%. Domestic‑violence‑related eligible youths received citations at a lower rate locally (about 51%) than the statewide average (about 35%), and 114 domestic‑violence‑eligible youths in the circuit were arrested in lieu of citation; 40 of those cases received diversion services, the presentation said.

Why it matters: board members said higher citation utilization can reduce formal juvenile records and increase diversion to community services. Members and presenters discussed operational changes and data needs that they said could increase utilization.

Presenters and data: Chief Hammersley (department staff) summarized statewide and circuit citation dashboards and said “there’s a state statute that puts out a list of the types of charges that are eligible for civil citation. And then each community is allowed to further delineate which children, which charges are appropriate for diversion, and that’s done through a… MOU.” Judy Royston, Director of the juvenile arrest avoidance program, identified the civil‑citation statute by number: “Oh, so the civil citation offense is 985.12.”

Members raised data quality and reporting concerns. One member asked, “Is that a Scribner’s error, or did the circuit 12 data get put into our presentation?” and presenters acknowledged they would verify the source data and follow up. Members also requested ZIP code breakdowns of eligible incidents so resources can be targeted to specific neighborhoods.

Operational changes discussed: board members and law‑enforcement representatives described efforts to increase citation use, including 1) requiring narrative justification in criminal‑report affidavits when officers do not issue a citation, 2) additional roll‑call training for deputies and officers, and 3) exploring a Pinellas/Polk County model that allows youths to be screened at a Juvenile Assessment and Coordination Center (JACC) and — where appropriate — have fingerprints “backed out” so a citation does not create a permanent arrest record. Captain Michael Kuttner and Lieutenant Robin Polk described local changes to reports and training intended to capture reasons a citation was not used and to push utilization higher.

Targets and accountability: members referenced recent juvenile‑justice legislation that encourages higher utilization and noted a department effort to publish circuit citation rates on a public dashboard and to apply a star‑rating system (gold/silver/bronze) so circuits can be compared and chief probation officers have a performance baseline. One board member noted the statute and guidance aim toward a roughly 70% utilization goal for communities.

Service mix and outcomes: the presentation broke out community‑based and school‑based offenses. For community offenses the circuit cited 53% versus a statewide 50% average; 278 community‑eligible youths were arrested in lieu of citation, with 174 ultimately receiving diversion services and 104 recorded as pending/no‑file/not‑guilty. For school‑related eligible offenses, only 21 youths were arrested in lieu of citation and all of those received diversion services.

Limitations and next steps: presenters apologized for any presentation errors and pledged to verify the data. The board asked the department to provide ZIP code‑level incident counts and to report back on whether the JACC model or a change in booking/fingerprint workflows could raise utilization. Director Royston and law‑enforcement leads said they will continue roll‑call training and audit affidavit entries to document discretion that led to arrests rather than citations.

Votes at the meeting: members approved the meeting agenda and the minutes of a prior meeting and later moved to adjourn; those procedural motions were made and seconded on the record and carried (no roll‑call vote tallies were provided in the transcript).

Ending: board members said they will use the subcommittee structure to pursue data‑driven increases in civil‑citation utilization and requested follow‑up at the next Circuit Advisory Board meeting.