June 18, 2024
Police Department
DATE: June 18, 2024
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Bisa French, Chief of Police
Subject:
Richmond Police Department’s County Operated Child
Interview Center (CIC) Services.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The estimated upcoming expenditure of $15,000 will come from the Police Department’s approved budget for
Fiscal Year 2023-2024 and will be budgeted
appropriately in upcoming budget submissions (1191021-
400201).
Prior years’ expenses under the proposed contract have
accrued and were previously appropriated.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
10/04/2022 – Council approved the original version of the contract with Contra Costa County for the Child Inter view Center.
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The Richmond Police Department has used the Child
Interview Center for many years. However, due to staff
changes at the Child Interview Center, Contra Costa
County requested changes to the City’s standard contract after the City Council approved the original submission in 2022.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
APPROVE the sole-source contract with Contra Costa
County on behalf of its Employment and Human Services
Department for the contract term July 1, 2021, to June
30, 2026, in an amount not to exceed $75,000 – Police
Department (Chief Bisa French 510-621-1802).
AGENDA
REPORT
June 18, 2024
DISCUSSION:
Since 1996, the Children’s Interview Center (CIC) has worked in partnership with Law Enforcement, the District Attorney’s Office, Children and Family Services, Contra Costa County (County) Mental Health, and other community agencies as part of a county-wide Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT). Working collaboratively, the MDT and the CIC respond primarily to allegations of child sexual abuse but also to allegations of child physical abuse or witnesses to other traumatic events.
The primary goal of the CIC is to support effective criminal investigations of child abuse by providing standardized forensic interviews to hold abuse perpetrators accountable while minimizing duplicative interviews and further trauma to children and families. To reduce trauma, children are interviewed by a specially trained professional in a supportive setting. The CIC is a safe and child/teen-friendly environment where children ages 2 – 17, as well as developmentally delayed people of any age, can disclose what happened in a safe and comfortable setting and begin their healing. In certain circumstances, the County’s specially trained facility dog may be present with the child during the interview to comfort the child.
All law enforcement agencies in the County use the CIC. The County Employment and Human Services Department acts as a fiduciary and oversees its services.
The sole source five-year contract was approved by Council on October 4, 2022.
However, after the documents were submitted for signature by the County, the County’s legal counsel requested changes to the City’s standard contract, which requires Police Department staff to resubmit for approval.
Since October 4, 2022, Police Department staff has conferred with the City’s legal team several times to ensure the standard contract revisions can be made. Still, it has taken a long time for both sides to agree to the changes and acceptable revisions and, most notably, for the County’s Board of Supervisors to approve the final version of the standard contract (approved on March 19, 2024).
The annual invoices previously received have been accrued for in prior years; once Richmond City Council approves the contract, Police Department staff can move forward with the internal contract and purchase order processes to pay the invoices.
Police Department staff requests final approval of the revised sole source five-year contract for services provided at the county-operated Child Interview Center. Exhibit E (Attachment 1) notes the changes in the contract's special conditions section.
June 18, 2024
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Contract