Douglas County Commission receives briefing on criminal justice services, staffing and funding

Douglas County Commissioners heard a detailed briefing from the county Department of Criminal Justice Services at a 4:00 p.m. work session on the department's programs for adults and juveniles, including pretrial supervision, electronic monitoring, community corrections, juvenile detention and day-school services, and grant-funded supports. The session was informational only and did not include public comment or formal votes.

Pam, director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services, told commissioners that the department employs about 55 professional staff and supervises several hundred people through a range of programs. "Everyone pretrial is presumed innocent," Pam said, describing the pretrial team's role in providing assessments and reports to the court so judges can set appropriate supervision levels. She said the pretrial unit typically supervises about 200 to 205 people on any given day and serves roughly "right under 500" individuals over the course of a year.

The department's pretrial staff interview clients at the jail, run background checks and assemble a written report for the court that includes criminal history and failure-to-appear records; the court, not the department, makes final detention and supervision decisions. Pam said the office follows a risk-needs approach and tries "not to over supervise people and make them higher risk." She added that prior to the county's pretrial program, cash bail was the primary way people left jail. The department also provides electronic monitoring and house-arrest equipment for…