Douglas County CJCC adopts 2025–2027 strategic plan, sets data and communications committees

The Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council unanimously adopted a 2025–2027 strategic plan on a motion by Patrick Schmitz, formalizing four priority areas and directing staff and member agencies to begin implementation work.

The plan, developed over roughly four months with support from consultant JMI and county staff, identifies four priority areas: improving system data metrics, assessing and strengthening pretrial processes, expanding a continuum of criminal-justice program options to reduce crime-contributing factors, and developing a strategic communications plan. Council members said the plan grew from focus groups, an online survey, a one-and-a-half-day retreat and a system-wide data template that highlighted both available data and gaps.

The plan matters, council leaders said, because it moves the CJCC from ad-hoc efforts toward defined goals, measurable objectives and assigned responsibilities. “Data was really important,” Patrick Schmitz, chair of the strategic planning committee, told members when he reviewed the process. He described iterative drafts circulated to the CJCC and community stakeholders and said an initial draft was shared with the CJCC on Jan. 14 with feedback incorporated into the final version presented at the February meeting.

Council members discussed the plan briefly before the vote. Shannon Reed, Douglas County commissioner for District 2, asked for clarification on whether the pretrial priority covered all pretrial decision points or only pretrial services; Pam Wiegand, director of criminal justice services, described an existing stakeholder group that periodically reviews the county’s pretrial praxis and noted a separate state committee that is reviewing pretrial programming. Wiegand said the CJCC plan does not supplant ongoing work but is intended to support and coordinate those efforts across agencies.

After adoption, the CJCC identified immediate next steps. For Priority 1 (system data metrics), staff asked member agencies to work with Katie Fitzgerald to identify a point person in each agency to provide data and serve on a proposed data-and-technology committee; the goal is to present members and a committee charter for CJCC approval by the April meeting. For Priority 4 (communications), Fitzgerald and Carrie Britt, the county public information officer, will consult local agency PIOs and report back in April with a proposed structure and membership for a strategic communications committee.

Pam Wiegand noted that the strategic plan has a more detailed companion document — a four- to five-page strategy and action item attachment — that expands on the high-level priorities presented to the CJCC.

Motion and voting: Patrick Schmitz moved to adopt the strategic plan; Pam Wiegand seconded. The chair called for a show-of-hands vote; the chair announced “That looks like a unanimous vote,” and declared the plan adopted. The body noted a quorum requirement of eight members was met. Individual votes were not recorded in the minutes.

The CJCC also confirmed the plan is not a rigid list of priorities and can accommodate emergent issues. Schmitz and other members said some objectives may outlast the three-year planning window but starting implementation now is important to demonstrate measurable progress.

The CJCC plans to post the plan publicly and use it to guide formation of work groups and subcommittees. Council staff will contact member agencies about data-point responsibilities and PIO participation in April. The CJCC’s next meeting is scheduled for April 8 at 11 a.m. in Mission Chambers, where initial committee charters and membership are expected to be presented.