September 19, 2023
Police Department
DATE: September 19, 2023
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Bisa French, Chief of Police
Subject:
Service Agreement with Contra Costa County District
Attorney's Office to Continue the Community-based
Prosecution Program
FINANCIAL IMPACT: Funding for this contract will come from the Police Department’s Fiscal Year 2023-2024 budget, not to
exceed $100,000. Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2024 –
2025 and Fiscal Year 2025 – 2026 will also come from
the Department’s budget. – account string 01191021-
400201.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
n/a
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The Contra Costa County District Attorney is vested with primary authority to prosecute criminal violations of state law in Contra Costa County. The proposed sole-source
agreement with the Contra Costa County District
Attorney's Office will continue the successful Community- based Prosecutor Program. The program is designed to
ensure the successful prosecution of criminal cases
investigated by sworn officers at the Richmond Police
Department, reduce violent crime, and address local
quality of life concerns.
AGENDA
REPORT
September 19, 2023
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
APPROVE a sole-source agreement with the Contra
Costa County District Attorney's Office for the dedicated services of a deputy district attorney who would be
specifically assigned as Richmond's Community-based
Prosecutor, in an amount not to exceed $300,000, with a three-year term commencing July 1, 2023, and ending
June 30, 2026 - Police Department (Chief Bisa French
510-621-1802).
DISCUSSION:
The Richmond Police Department has utilized the services of a Contra Costa County Deputy District Attorney (DDA) since January 2008 to provide training and enforcement assistance. Housed within the Police Department, Community Based Prosecutors have been instrumental in improving the quality of criminal cases prepared by sworn officers, increased the prosecution rate of Richmond cases, and have played an invaluable role in reducing violent crime. The job duties of the DDA include:
Preparing monthly training bulletins that are disseminated to all sworn personnel; Conducting on-going trainings that outline topics such as employing successful strategies for reducing gun violence, crime prevention methods through community engagement, and an overview of recent case law and appellate decisions;
Reviewing all misdemeanor cases and many violent crime investigations; Assisting with a variety of legal and criminal justice procedural issues; Assisting the City Attorney and Code Enforcement staff on neighborhood nuisance issues;
Regularly attending Crime Accountability meetings and providing input on quality of life issues and community concerns; and
Continuing to serve as a liaison with fellow prosecutors, judges, and other criminal justice experts, while ensuring that appropriate state and federal laws are understood and applied by sworn personnel.
With the approval of this agreement, the Richmond Police Department will continue to receive the essential services provided by the Community-based Prosecutor through June 30, 2026.
City staff has completed an After-the-Fact form because the proposed agreement is asking for approval as of July 1, 2023. The hope in June 2023 was that the County DA’s Office would easily be able to revise their one-year standard agreement to a three-year standard agreement and return it to City staff prior to the last City Council meeting of Fiscal Year 2023 on June 27, 2023, or at least before the last City Council meeting before their recess, on July 11, 2023. Unfortunately, it was not communicated to City staff that the revision would need to go back to the County’s Board of Supervisors for approval prior to forwarding to the City for final execution of the agreement. The County’s Board of Supervisors approved the agreement on July 18, 2023, and City staff
September 19, 2023
received the agreement on July 19. City staff asked for a three-year agreement to reduce the administrative time involved with creating a new standard contract every year when the agreement’s total cost and terms remain the same annually. The three- year term would also coincide with City staff’s resolution to approve similar interagency agreements, which is completed every two years and is scheduled to be presented during a City Council meeting in June 2024.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Agreement
Attachment 2 – Executed Sole Source
Attachment 3 – Executed After the Fact