Santa Cruz County Grand Jury
• 2024-2025
• Agency Response
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
Page 21
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.
No recommendations for this finding
F2
Page 21
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.
No recommendations for this finding
F3
Page 21
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.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
Page 21
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.
No recommendations for this finding
F5
Page 21
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.
No recommendations for this finding
F6
Page 21
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.
No recommendations for this finding
F7
Page 21
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.
No recommendations for this finding
F8
Page 21
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.
No recommendations for this finding
F9
Page 21
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.
No recommendations for this finding
F10
Page 21
The Five Year Strategic Plan’s failure to include the prevention of rape and domestic violence leaves the community less aware and less safe.
No recommendations for this finding
F11
Page 21
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.
No recommendations for this finding
Conclusions 1
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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. Preventing Rape and Domestic Violence published June 27, 2024 Page 20 of 30