Santa Cruz County Grand Jury
• 2024-2025
City Of Santa Cruz: Preventing Rape and Domestic Violence Where’s The Priority?
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 11 findings
F1
Since 2016, the lack of comprehensive Annual Reports with detailed metrics on rape, including the tracking of stranger rape, leaves the community less informed, more vulnerable, and less safe.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
The Grand Jury recommends that the Commission and the SCPD submit comprehensive annual reports as called for in Ordinance 81-29, using the 2005-07 reports as a model, with the 2024 Annual Report placed on the Commission's agenda by December 31, 2024 and future reports submitted on a consistent, annual basis. (F1)
F2
By highlighting a generic national statistic on stranger rape, rather than assessing local metrics in the CPVAW 2023 Report, the City is minimizing stranger rape and misleading the public into a possible false sense of security.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
The Grand Jury recommends that the 2023 Report be amended to remove the national entry on stranger rape, replacing it with accurate data for the City of Santa Cruz by December 31, 2024. (F2)
F3
The lack of attention to long-time Commission programs such as the Safe Place Network and the Bar Coaster program leaves residents and visitors without important resources for their personal safety.
Related Recommendations (2)
R1
The Grand Jury recommends that the City Council fund a dedicated staff person for the Commission with skills commensurate to the need for program and resource development, community outreach and visibility, data research and report writing and have such position advertised by December 31, 2024. (F5, F3)
R8
The Grand Jury recommends that the CPVAW update the status of the Safe Place Network and the Bar Coasters program. If the programs are to be discontinued, a public CPVAW meeting is advised for that decision. If the programs are to be continued, the date of January 31, 2025 is recommended for the full reinstatement of these programs. (F3)
F4
The loss of the in-person self-defense program for boys and girls in Santa Cruz City Schools lessens students’ ability to prevent sexual assault and interpersonal violence, inconsistent with the mandate of Ordinance 81-29.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The Grand Jury recommends that the City Council begin evaluating options with the Santa Cruz City School District to reinstate the in-person self-defense program for middle and high school students of all genders by January 31, 2025. (F4)
F5
The City’s replacement of a dedicated 20-hour per week Commission staff position with rotating staff with minimal hours has resulted in a loss of visibility for the prevention of rape and domestic violence, a loss of community connections, a lack of programs, inadequate resource distribution and less public awareness.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Grand Jury recommends that the City Council fund a dedicated staff person for the Commission with skills commensurate to the need for program and resource development, community outreach and visibility, data research and report writing and have such position advertised by December 31, 2024. (F5, F3)
F6
The City’s refusal to allow the Commission continued access to redacted police reports prevents the Commission from making recommendations for police training and evaluating community complaints as required by Ordinance.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Grand Jury recommends that the City Council reevaluate the legal ability of CPVAW commissioners to access redacted police reports of rape as described in this investigation, and present the results of that research by December 31, 2024. (F6)
F7
The SCPD’s decision to drop stranger rape alerts and case-by-case updates leaves the community unaware about this serious crime and therefore less safe.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
The Grand Jury recommends that the SCPD reinstate community alerts for incidents of stranger rape, with case-by-case updates, by December 31, 2024. (F7)
F8
The inconsistencies the Grand Jury found in SCPD’s rape numbers means the public, the CPVAW and the City have no accurate metrics about reported rape, leaving the community ill-informed and Annual Commission Reports unreliable.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The Grand Jury recommends that the SCPD update its website to include the detailed metrics on Rape Incidents submitted to NIBRS and CIBRS, ensuring all data entries are accurate and available at each meeting of the CPVAW, and have this in place by January 31, 2025. (F8, F9)
F9
The SCPD and the Commission’s lack of a consistent definition of rape leads to public confusion and potential undercounting of rape crimes in the City.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The Grand Jury recommends that the SCPD update its website to include the detailed metrics on Rape Incidents submitted to NIBRS and CIBRS, ensuring all data entries are accurate and available at each meeting of the CPVAW, and have this in place by January 31, 2025. (F8, F9)
F10
The Five Year Strategic Plan’s failure to include the prevention of rape and domestic violence leaves the community less aware and less safe.
Related Recommendations (1)
R9
The Grand Jury recommends that Focus Area 5, Public Safety of the 2023-28 Five Year Strategic Plan include an entry prioritizing the prevention of rape and domestic violence, as mandated by Ordinance 81-29, and published by February 28, 2025. (F10)
F11
The City Manager’s Weekly Update to the community has not highlighted the work of the CPVAW for the past two years, effectively relegating the prevention of rape and domestic violence to a low priority, leaving the public uninformed.
Related Recommendations (1)
R10
The Grand Jury recommends that the City Manager increase the visibility of the CPVAW programs and events by publishing relevant information, at least quarterly, in the City Manager’s Weekly Update and that the first article be published by December 31, 2024. (F11)
Additional Recommendations 1
These recommendations are not explicitly linked to specific findings.
-
R81-29to make the prevention of rape and domestic violence one of its highest priorities. In 2023, the Santa Cruz City Council adopted a Five Year Strategic Plan. The Plan makes no mention of rape and domestic violence. Over the past decade, the City’s Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women has failed to provide the City Council with solid Annual Reports that document City, community, and police efforts to prevent rape and domestic violence. Recent reports have either included no data or limited data. The 2023 CPVAW Joint Report has no metrics on important trends such as whether the City of Santa Cruz still has a higher than average rate of rapes by strangers. What areas of the city were the crimes committed in? Have there been arrests? Long-standing Commission programs such as the Safe Place Network of local businesses are currently idle. This year the Santa Cruz City Schools District canceled the Commission’s popular self-defense classes for middle and high school students. The in-person classes are being replaced with an online self-esteem video. The City has ended the Commission’s thirty five-year access to redacted police reports of rape and domestic violence. These reports enabled the Commission to evaluate police response, respond to complaints and recommend training if needed. The Grand Jury submits its findings and recommendations to bring the City of Santa Cruz into compliance with City Ordinance 81-29. The personal safety and well-being of the community is at stake. Table of Contents Summary 1 Table of Contents 2 Background 3 Scope and Methodology 3 Investigation 4 History Of Commission Work 4 Decline in Report Quality and Frequency 5 Metrics On Reported Rape in the City 6 Commission Programs and Resources 8 Self-Defense 9 Cuts to Self-Defense 9 Safe Place Network 10 Bar Coasters 11 Banners 12 Measuring the City’s Support 13 Not In the City Five Year Strategic Plan 13 Decline In Dedicated Staffing 13 Ongoing Budget Reductions 14 Loss Of Visible Location 14 Frequency Of Meetings 15 SCPD And The Commission 15 High Incidence of Stranger Rape 15 Defining Rape 16 FBI And Revised Rape Definition 17 SCPD, CPVAW and the Definition of Rape 17 Commission Access to Redacted Police Reports on Rape 20 Conclusion 20 Findings 21 Recommendations 21 Required Responses 22 Invited Responses 23 Definitions 23 Sources 23 References 23
Conclusions 1
-
CL1 Page 20City Ordinance 81-29 Section 3 (a) states, “It shall be the policy of the City of Santa Cruz that the prevention of rape and domestic violence shall be one of its highest priorities.” It is clear from each priority criterion evaluated for this investigation that the City is ignoring its mandate. This inaction leaves the community vulnerable and ill-informed with respect to rape and domestic violence. By adopting the Grand Jury’s recommendations, the City can bridge the gulf between their long-standing legal obligations and their current neglect of these critical services. The result will be a community better informed, better prepared, and less vulnerable to rape and domestic violence.
No Responses Found 2
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Santa Cruz
City
Santa Cruz City Elementary School District
School District