City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: MARCH 18, 2015
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, ACTING CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of a Grant Application to the United States Department of Justice for $362,561 to Fund a Strategic Prosecution Initiative in Alexandria.
BODY
ISSUE: Consideration of a grant application to the Department of Justice for the purpose of funding a Strategic Prosecution Initiative in Alexandria that studies the incorporation of evidence-based and data driven decision making into criminal prosecution.
RECOMMENDATION: That the City Council:
1. Approve the submission of the $362,561 grant application due March 26, 2015 for the funding of a Strategic Prosecution Initiative in Alexandria; and
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute the necessary documents that may be required.
BACKGROUND: The U.S. Department of Justice is soliciting proposals for initiatives that seek to apply data-driven, evidence-based practices to the field of criminal prosecution. Broadly speaking this is defined as prosecution programs and practices whose effectiveness has been demonstrated by causal evidence through one or more outcome evaluations. This evidence documents a relationship between an activity or intervention strategy and the intended outcome. Grants are being made by the U.S. Department of Justice of up to $425,000 that would cover a 24-month period, beginning in October of 2015. Applicants must be paired with a research partner who has the capacity to statistically assess the initiative's success. The Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney proposes requesting $362,561 to a fund this 24-month initiative which would pay for a Senior Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney to serve as a Strategic Response Prosecutor, whose activities would parallel and work in coordination with the Alexandria Police Department's Strategic Response System. The proposed grant also includes funding to cover the research costs, with the proposed researcher partner being the Crime Analysis Unit of the Alexandria Police Department.
DISCUSSION: The Strategic Response Prosecution Initiative seeks to develop a means by a which a prosecutor's office can evolve beyond a reactive form of "inbox" prosecution, to an innovative approach that emphasizes community involvement and input, inter-agency collaboration, and measurable results. The Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney proposes taking the Scanning Analysis Response Assessment (SARA) model of policing and determining if its guiding principles can be applied to prosecution. SARA focuses on Scanning (identifying/confirming problems of concern to the public and developing broad goals), Analysis (identifying relevant data to be collected, identifying and inventorying resources and developing working hypothesis about a problem), Response (brainstorming new interventions, surveying other intervention strategies, and developing specific objectives and plans), and Assessment (using qualitative and quantitative data to assess a program's success).
This will be accomplished by assigning a full-time, senior level attorney to act as a strategic response prosecutor. This prosecutor will closely collaborate with the Alexandria Police Department's Strategic Response System, which is modeled on the SARA approach to policing, as well as other City agencies such as Code Administration. The strategic response prosecutor would offer prosecution input on strategic response initiatives and would attempt to identify tools that are available to prosecutors that could support these endeavors. Examples would include investigative tools like the use of specially-impanelled grand juries and proactive enforcement tools such as seeking civil orders to enjoin nuisance properties. Initiatives would also look at offering prosecution perspective on how diversion and probation and alternatives could be differently structured to help reduce recidivism. The strategic response prosecutor would be heavily involved in attending community meetings, in an effort to obtain community input on prosecution goals and focus. The strategic response prosecutor would be responsible for the prosecution of all crimes arising out of this initiative. The collective purpose would be to determine if focused prosecution response to strategic response initiatives has a statistical impact on crime rates.
This proposal would be additionally supported by the work of the Crime Analysis Unit of the Alexandria Police Department as the research partner. The Crime Analysis Unit will work in tandem with the strategic response prosecutor to collect data on the program's success and provide independent verification of whether benchmarks have been met.
Ultimately the initiative will result in the development of a comprehensive model that could be shared with other prosecutors' offices who are interested in developing similar programs in their jurisdictions.
Attached to this memorandum is a project abstract and the program narrative from the proposed grant application.
FISCAL IMPACT: In order to demonstrate local commitment to the project, the application indicates a local contribution of an in-kind nature equal to $6,815. This is for resources that the Strategic Response prosecutor would need to complete his or her job such as a desk, computer, office supplies, etc. These items will be covered from the current stock of the Office of the Commonwealth's Attorney and will thus present no additional burden on the City's budget. The Commonwealth's Attorney is requesting grant funds in the amount of $362,561 to cover 100% of the new costs associated with this project. The project's anticipated life-span is two years, which is the full length of the grant.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Project Abstract
Attachment 2: Program Narrative
Attachment 3: Timeline of Deliverables
STAFF:
Bryan Porter, Commonwealth's Attorney
David A. Lord, Senior Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney
Angela Dougherty, Senior Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney