Agencies Usually Implement Recommendations When They Agree with Us – but Some Are Slow

The Department of Social Services (DSS) agreed to implement several recommendations. Among these were procedures within Child Welfare Services (CWS) to better inform law enforcement and the District Attorney when a referral is opened. DSS agreed to develop a Desk Guide to better assist CWS employees in referral management. A copy of the Desk Guide has been provided to the 2008-2009 Grand Jury. DSS also agreed to implement procedures to improve employee morale. The 2008-2009 Grand Jury has received a list of methods the Department uses to address issues of job stress.

The District Attorney implemented several recommendations in response to a Grand Jury’s report about a vehicle manslaughter complaint that languished without resolution for most of a year. Earlier this year the 2008-2009 Grand Jury published a detailed report detailing the Responses report.doc, 5/16/09, implementation. That report is titled “District Attorney Responds Favorably: 704 Complaints Lead to Grand Jury Recommendations” and is available at the Grand Jury website, http://slocourts.net/grand_jury/reports/ 2004-2005 1. The Sheriff’s Department and six city police departments agreed in 2005 with a recommendation that they provide – in both English and Spanish – citizens’ complaint forms regarding officer conduct. The forms were to be made available in the public lobby of each station. The Sheriff’s Department and four of the city police departments --- in Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, Grover Beach, Paso Robles and Pismo Beach --- quickly provided this year’s Grand Jury with samples of such forms, some actually completed and redacted. As noted previously, the San Luis Obispo City Police Department produced the Spanish language version of its form when reminded last fall of its agreement. (Morro Bay’s Police Department agreed to the recommendation that it develop an English language complaint form but did not respond, one way or another, to the recommendation that it develop such a form written in Spanish.) 2. First 5 of San Luis Obispo County, an organization that hands out grants of tobacco tax money to organizations that provide pre-school services, agreed to a 2004-2005 recommendation that it should require audit reports from funded programs. It responded by collecting overall audit reports from agencies that receive its funding. Those reports do not, however, actually detail how the agencies spend First 5 money.

The Environmental Health Services Division of the Public Health Department has posted a separate citizen complaint form for retail food establishments at the county web site, as it agreed to do in response to a Grand Jury recommendation. The form is available at www.slocounty.ca.gov/health/publichealth/ehs.htm. Responses report.doc, 5/16/09, 4. On Feb. 28, 2006, Child Welfare Services provided the county’s Chief Administrative Officer with a status report on the progress of CWS’ organizational health, as recommended and agreed upon in 2005. 2005-2006 1. Atascadero High School (AHS) agreed to implement two recommendations of the 2005-2006 Grand Jury. The school agreed to formally document all incidents of racial and sexual harassment and report such incidents to the Atascadero Unified School District office staff. AHS provided to the Grand Jury a copy of formal incident logs involving racial and sexual harassment, as requested. Furthermore, the school said that it would continue to seek the best methods, procedures, and strategies to address all forms of inappropriate student behavior in the 2006-2007 school year. AHS stated that it would solicit input from staff, students, and parents. The school provided to the Grand Jury evidence of several avenues of input to address inappropriate student behavior.