The Franklin County Office of Homeland Security & Justice Programs

373 S. High St. 25th Floor
Columbus, Ohio 43215
614-462-5577 Phone 614-462-5549 Fax
ohsjp@co.franklin.oh.us

Franklin County administers approximately two (2) million dollars in federal justice formula block grant funds and nine (9) million dollars in Homeland Security (Urban Area Security Initiative) funds annually passed through to the Office of Homeland Security & Justice Programs (OHS&JP) by the State of Ohio. The Franklin County allocation of federal justice block grants is disbursed through a competitive grant process administered by the OHSJP. Franklin County’s allocation of Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) funds is disbursed through a comprehensive funding process as determined by the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) and administered by the OHS&JP.

Under the direction of the State Office of Criminal Justice Services the OHS&JP administers the Byrne Memorial and S.T.O.P. Violence Against Women grant programs. Under the direction of the Ohio Department of Youth Services, the OHS&JP administers the Juvenile Accountability and Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Title II block grant programs. All grants have an open application period once a year and operate on a continuing basis for a minimum of twelve months. Federal and State Directives are established for each grant, each year, and passed through to the local level for implementation. Under the direction of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency the OHS&JP administers the Columbus Urban Area Security Initiative grant program.

Franklin County’s five competitive justice block grants provide funding for a wide variety of projects and programs including crime prevention, victim services, local law enforcement assistance, juvenile delinquency prevention, law enforcement task forces, technology integration and information sharing, alternatives to corrections, substance abuse treatment, and innovative programs operated within the justice disciplines. Applications for projects and programs that impact the major emphasis areas identified by discipline for law enforcement, courts, probation/parole, victim services, crime prevention, juvenile, corrections, and courts will be given priority funding. The Board will focus on the major emphasis areas in each of the justice disciplines as funding plans are developed within the guidelines of the block grant initiatives.

Common major emphasis themes throughout all justice disciplines include the lack of mental health and substance abuse treatment programs, the need for alternatives to incarceration, a demand for system and technology integration, inadequate funding to meet system demands, and most prevalent, the need for cultural understanding training and language interpretation services. The Board will continue to focus research, evaluation and planning efforts on these identified priority areas in the 2006 programming year.

In addition, the Franklin County Criminal Justice Planning Board has established the following local directives to support identified major emphasis areas in accordance with the Franklin County Comprehensive Strategic Justice Plan:

¾ Applications for youth programs operating after school, Saturdays, or during the summer must include a nutritious breakfast, lunch or hot supper for all LMI children participating in the program. Applicants will be required to work with the Children’s Hunger Alliance to qualify their program site for services.

¾ Training and technical assistance programs will be developed and administered by the OHS&JP to address needs identified in the major emphasis areas of the Franklin County Comprehensive Strategic Justice Plan. Attendance will be mandatory for affected personnel funded through the OHS&JP.

¾ Projects and programs funded through the OHS&JP are required to submit written minutes (including attendance) of their Collaborative Board meetings along with their quarterly fiscal and programmatic reports.

¾ S.T.O.P. Violence Against Women sub-grantees are required to attend and participate in quarterly meetings of the Franklin County VAWA Advisory Board.

¾ Crime Prevention projects and programs funded through the OHS&JP are required to have local law enforcement as a working partner in their project and represented on their Collaborative Board.

¾ Justice projects and programs funded through the OHS&JP must participate in the Commissioner’s Annual Justice Exposition to promote public awareness, facilitate networking and collaboration between justice disciplines and provide the opportunity for evaluation by members of the Franklin County Criminal Justice Planning Board.

The Columbus Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant provides funding to plan, equip, train, and exercise Franklin County’s First Responders. Based on the Columbus Urban Area Homeland Security Strategy developed by the Franklin County Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC), funding is prioritized based on identified threat, risk and need.

Crossing the ten First Responder disciplines of administration, public health, emergency management, fire, EMS, law enforcement, HazMat, DeCon, health care, public works, and public information, grant funds are applied to meet regional goals to prevent, respond to, and recover from disaster in an all-hazards approach.

The HSAC will continuously update and refine the Columbus Urban Area Homeland Security Strategy to reflect accomplished implementation steps, assess progress toward completion of goals, and address current trends and conditions in accordance with Homeland Security efforts at the federal, State, and Local levels.

The HSAC has developed the following local directives for the UASI funds: ¾ All funding requests must be Regional in application. ¾ All projects must be in accordance with the Goals of the Columbus Urban Area Homeland

Security Strategy. ¾ The CEO of the political sub-division must approve the request for equipment and accept all ongoing costs including maintenance, licenses, insurance etc. ¾ Projects will be funded in full or in part based on identified threat, risk, and need priority.

HOMELAND SECURITY

Major Emphasis Area:

a.) Improve communications interoperability in accordance with the Columbus Urban Area Tactical Interoperable Communications Plan.

b.) Harden soft targets and secure critical infrastructure as designated on the Franklin County Critical Infrastructure List in accordance with the National Infrastructure Protection Plan.

c.) Implement Homeland Security training programs developed by the Office of Domestic Preparedness and Department of Homeland Security in a multi-disciplined, multi-jurisdictional approach.

d.) Implement the National Preparedness Goal including the National Incident Management System, National Infrastructure Protection Plan, and National Response Plan.

e.) Implement exercises that enhance the regional capability of First Responders and highly
specialized teams.

f.) Improve regional planning for emergency evacuation and invacuation.

g.) Enhance first responder capabilities to prevent, protect, respond to, and recover from all hazard incidents through training, equipping, and exercising.

PROSECUTION

Major Emphasis Areas: a.) Promote the integration of justice technology to facilitate case management, ensure the delivery of comprehensive services, and facilitate communication between agencies. b.) Reduce the current violent crimes caseload per prosecutor

Additional Emphasis Areas:
a.) Provide cultural understanding training for law enforcement and prosecutors that promotes

diverse cultural competency. b.) Reduce communication barriers through the employment of language interpretation services. c.) Implement video arraignment in the court system to reduce the burden on prosecutors, courts

and corrections.

PUBLIC DEFENDER

Major Emphasis Area:

The Public Defender Office will have data import access to targeted information sources from justice and human services agencies within designated time frames, to increase office efficiency and enhance the quality of legal representation provided.

Provide cultural understanding training to personnel to promote diverse cultural competency and reduce communication barriers through the employment of language interpretation services.

Improve information technology and telecommunication services to improve case and office management, promote inter-agency collaboration, assist in developing countywide strategic information sharing and assure the delivery of cost-effective quality client services. * See phase III Justice Integration Project

Provide continued staff development including professional competency, cultural diversity, and changing legislative and social policy trends and initiatives.

Ensure professional and support services are adequately staffed to address increasing caseloads.

Additional Emphasis Areas:

Participate in county, state, and local initiatives to identify community justice needs and recommend systemic change to maximize the use of county resources to cost efficiently fund identified needs.

Promote awareness of community cultural diversity by developing Public Defender services
information pamphlets in multiple languages.

Continue to monitor the statistical impact of the Juvenile Reform Bill (H.B. 179), the Juvenile Sexual Predator Law (S.B.3), the Juvenile Disposition Bill (H.B. 400), and the new traffic and misdemeanor bills, S.B. 123 and H.B. 490 respectfully, to identify additional staffing and office space needs.

CRIME PREVENTION

Major Emphasis Areas:

a) Demand accountability from parents and juveniles for acts of delinquency. b) Develop evaluation instruments for crime prevention projects to determine effectiveness of programs and identify best practice models for replication. c) Require collaboration with law enforcement in all funded crime prevention projects.

Additional Emphasis Areas: Require crime prevention projects to maintain a working collaborative composed

of multi-disciplined partners.
b.) Promote community sanctions as alternatives in sentencing.
c.) Strengthen the safety net program for senior citizen victims of crime.

VICTIM SERVICES

Major Emphasis Areas: a) Increase funding for victim services and direct funding to appropriate and effective victim service

projects. Develop and promote a safe reporting method for family members experiencing violence in the home. b) Create specialized victim service programs for youth with emphasis on youth who are witnesses to

criminal violence.

Additional Emphasis Areas: a) Coordinate provider services to deliver a comprehensive service plan to victims. Develop the role of victim advocates in the probation department to address victim

notification, restitution, and offender violations.

CORRECTIONS

Major Emphasis Areas:

a.) Provide cultural understanding training to corrections personnel to promote diverse cultural competency and reduce communication barriers through the employment of language interpretation services.

b.) Reduce the burden on corrections by increasing the use of alternatives to incarceration.

c.) Lead efforts to address the issue of jail overcrowding.

Additional Emphasis Areas:

a.) Address the lack of in-patient services for offenders requiring psychiatric care.
b.) Establish mental health and dual diagnosis medical services for juvenile offenders.
c.) Develop a pre-trial release system for specialized populations.

JUVENILE

Major Emphasis Areas: a) Development of family based prevention and probation programs. b) Demand accountability from parents and youth for acts of delinquency. Create programs to serve special juvenile populations including sexually violent offenders, homeless youth, and juvenile offenders deemed mentally incompetent a) Address the Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) issues within the juvenile justice system. e.) Develop response programs to address juveniles involved in youth gang related violence.

Additional Emphasis Areas:

a) Eliminate the duplication of services provided for juveniles.

b.) Reduce the burden on the traditional juvenile justice system by increasing the use of community diversion programs.

COURTS

Major Emphasis Areas:

a.) Expand diversion programs to provide additional alternatives to incarceration.

b.) Continue to address the inefficiencies of courtroom facilities, transportation between jail and court, public defender, assignment, and administrative processes.

c.) Increase the options and flexibility of treatment programs to allow offenders to
maintain employment and meet childcare demands.

d.) Proffer short and long term solutions for jail overcrowding.

Additional Emphasis Areas:

a) Address the staffing reductions and increased demand for Pre-Sentence Investigations (PSI).

b.) Provide cultural understanding training to promote diverse cultural competency and reduce communication barriers through the employment of language interpretation services for prosecutors and public defenders.

c.) Develop programs to support alternative sentencing options for special offender
populations.

Evaluate the impact of the following issues on the judicial system:

• Children in courtrooms

• In -balance of minority representation

• Environmental conditions impact on crime

• Overburden of drug cases

• Repeated court appearances leading to loss of victim/witness participation

• Pre-trial release

• 24 hour Clerk of Courts for Common Please or Clerks in Courtroom

• Defendant orientation

• Program costs for indigent families

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Major Emphasis Areas: a) Promote integration of justice technology to facilitate interagency communication and information sharing. Phase III is currently under way funded by UASI. b) Provide cultural understanding training to promote diverse cultural competency and reduce

communication barriers through the employment of language interpretation services.
c) Develop pro-active interventions and response plans for violent juvenile gang activity.
d) Proffer long and short term solutions for jail overcrowding.

Additional Emphasis Areas:

a.) Continue to develop regional collaborations between federal, state, and local law enforcement to support prevention, protection, response, and recovery from all-hazard incidents..

b.) Address neighborhood quality of life complaints of local citizens including graffiti, noise, and speed violations.

c.) Reduce DUI (Driving Under Intoxication) repeat offenders.

PROBATION/PAROLE Major Emphasis Areas: a) Reduce caseload on probation/parole officers. b) Increase general fund allocation for probation/parole departments. c) Reduce communication barriers through the employment of language interpretation services and provide required forms in multi languages. d) Increase mental health/dual diagnosis services availability for qualified offenders. e) Improve communication between probation/parole and the Court, law enforcement, and Prosecutors. f.) Proffer long and short term solutions for jail overcrowding.

Additional Emphasis Areas:

Increase officer safety through training and issuance of emergency communication devices.

Provide cultural understanding training to promote diverse cultural competency.

Increase the utilization of pre-trial services.

Improve tracking of defendants to provide reliable recidivism information.

Implement “Best Practices” in offender supervision in an effort to reduce recidivism.

Improve information technology to allow for increased efficiency in case management and offer the

opportunity to compile necessary information to determine areas of need and accomplishments.