Contra Costa County Grand Jury • 2015-2016 • Agency Response

EL Cerrito City Manager's Office August 17, 2016 Michael Simmons, Foreperson Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury*

Published: August 17, 2016 3 pages
View Original PDF

Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F8, F10

Findings and Recommendations 7 findings

F6
"Many social workers in CFS, law enforcement, officers in Juvenile Hall and victim advocates in the DA's Office are not implementing the CSEC Protocol because they have not yet seen it." Response: The City of El Cerrito partially disagrees with Finding #6. The City cannot address the practices of other entities, including whether or not other parties "are not implementing the CSEC Protocol because they have not yet seen it." Specifically, the City of El Cerrito Police Department is aware of the CSEC Protocol document.
No recommendations for this finding
F7
"CFS, the leader of the Oversight Committee, has not followed up with its interagency partners that have signed off on the Protocol, but have not submitted their own CSEC department plan/protocols to the Oversight Committee." Response: The City of El Cerrito partially disagrees with Finding #7. The City cannot address the practices of other entities, including the Contra Costa County Division of Children and Family Services (CFS). The City of El Cerrito is not a signatory on a CSEC Protocol.
No recommendations for this finding
F9
"Suspected CSEC victims are being arrested and booked into Juvenile Hall for their own safety pursuant to various statutes under the Welfare & Institutions Code, relating to infractions and crimes committed by youth, while the County assesses the appropriate health and social services to provide." CITY HALL 10890 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530 Telephone (510) 215-4305 Fax (510) 215-4379 http://www.el-cerrito.org EL CERRITO CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE Response: The City of El Cerrito partially disagrees with Finding #9. The City cannot address the practices of other entities, including whether all suspected CSEC victims are being arrested and booked into Juvenile Hall for their own safety. In El Cerrito, suspected CSEC victims are not automatically arrested and booked into Juvenile Hall. The El Cerrito Police Department takes an approach to CSEC that is victim-centered and trauma-informed.
Related Recommendations (1)
R9
"The Board of Supervisors, City Councils, and Sheriff's Department should consider recommending that all first responders (usually law enforcement) refer suspected victims of CSEC to specialized and dedicated CSEC personnel, to be established within CFS." Response: This recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted. While the recommendation may be an appropriate solution, the CSEC protocol should be determined at the county, not city, level. Once a process has been identified, either within or outside of the CSEC protocol, the City of El Cerrito will follow appropriate protocols for referring suspected victims of CSEC to other personnel.
F11
"No single database covering all CSEC-related arrests, referrals and pending cases exist in the County." Response: The City of El Cerrito agrees with Finding #11. The City is not aware of the existence of a single database.
Related Recommendations (1)
R11
"City Councils and Sheriff's Department should direct law enforcement to avail themselves of CSEC training programs formulated by CFS." Response: This recommendation has not yet been implemented but will be implemented in the future. The El Cerrito Police Department will avail themselves of training when they become aware of training opportunities formulated by CFS that meet agency needs. The El Cerrito Police Department currently attends CSEC training programs formulated by other organizations. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or require additional information concerning the above responses. You can reach me directly at (510) 215- 4302 or by email at kpinkos@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us. Sincerely, Haren Efental Karen E. Pinkos Assistant City Manager City of El Cerrito El Cerrito City Council CC: Scott Hanin, City Manager CITY HALL 10890 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530 Telephone (510) 215-4305 Fax (510) 215-4379 http://www.el-cerrito.org
F12
"Due to the lack of a single database in the County covering all CSEC-related arrests, referrals and pending cases, the County does not know the number of victims of CSEC and where they are located." Response: The City of El Cerrito partially disagrees with Finding #12. While the City acknowledges that it is unaware of the existence of a single database in the County that covers all CSEC-related arrests, referrals and pending cases, the City cannot address whether or not the County knows the number of victims of CSEC or where they are located.
No recommendations for this finding
F13
"County personnel and law enforcement dealing with victims of CSEC are well- meaning, compassionate and dedicated people trying to make the best of a very difficult situation." Response: The City of El Cerrito partially disagrees with Finding #13. The City cannot address the practices of other entities, but does tend to agree that County personnel and law enforcement dealing with victims of CSEC are well-meaning, compassionate and dedicated people trying to make the very best of a very difficult situation.
No recommendations for this finding
F14
"Most County personnel and law enforcement dealing with victims of CSEC lack in- depth CSEC training, necessary facilities for temporarily accommodating the victims and a clear-cut plan of action, which lays out how to rescue, protect and serve the victims of CSEC in a manner that is caring and trauma-informed." Response: The City of El Cerrito partially disagrees with Finding #14. The City cannot address the practices of other entities, including how other agencies deal with victims of CSEC. The El Cerrito Police Department does work toward protecting and serving the victims of CSEC in a manner that is caring and trauma-informed. Additional in-depth training, facilities for temporary accommodations and a clear-cut plan of action at a countywide level could help improve conditions for the victims of CSEC. CITY HALL 10890 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, CA 94530 Telephone (510) 215-4305 Fax (510) 215-4379 http://www.el-cerrito.org ELCERRITO CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE
No recommendations for this finding

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.