Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Criminal Justice topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council approves prosecutor's request for criminal intelligence analyst and victim advocate positions
Summary
The Elkhart County Council approved two positions requested by Prosecuting Attorney Vicki Becker: a criminal intelligence analyst to support forensic phone downloads and a victim advocate position required by state statute; votes were recorded by roll call (4–3).
The Elkhart County Council voted to approve two personnel additions requested by Prosecuting Attorney Vicki Becker: a criminal intelligence analyst and an additional victim advocate.
Becker told the council the analyst performs forensic downloads and analysis of cell phones and other digital media and that the position has been pivotal in prosecuting serious cases, including recent homicide investigations. "These analysts are able to actually find [data] when it's been tried to be destroyed," Becker said, describing recovered video and cell‑phone evidence that aided prosecutions.
Becker said victim advocates are required by statute to notify victims about meaningful hearings, plea negotiations and the status of cases; the prosecutor's office uses trained advocates for those duties and is requesting an additional trial‑division advocate to handle caseload and victim communications.
On workload, Becker described heavy demand: analysts can work many hours on a single download ("7, 8, 9, 10 hours"), and major incidents can generate dozens of phones to process — she cited recent events with as many as 11 phones in a homicide and around 25 phones after a Father's Day mass shooting. She told the council the analysts are used sparingly for the "worst of the worst" cases because of limited staffing and equipment, but that demand would increase if staffing was expanded.
Council discussion noted alternatives such as contracting forensic services or relying on regional or state resources, but Becker said private contracts are substantially more expensive than in‑house staffing and that outsourcing can raise chain‑of‑custody and capacity issues. She offered to provide fuller annual statistics to the council going forward.
The council voted by roll call to approve both positions on a single motion; recorded roll call in the transcript shows the motion carried 4–3. Becker thanked the council following the vote.
The prosecutor's office provided a written request as part of the budget packet. The transcript included dollar figures that were unclear; the amounts for salary and benefits as read aloud in the meeting were ambiguous in the audio transcript and are recorded here as not specified. Becker indicated the office had been unable to fill attorney vacancies and that support staff helps prevent lawyers from taking on victim‑service duties.
