To: Board of Supervisors
From: Public Protection Committee
Report Title: 2024 Year-End Report and Committee’s 2025 Proposed Referrals
☐Recommendation of the County Administrator ☒ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. ACCEPT the 2024 Annual Report of the Public Protection Committee (PPC) of the Board of Supervisors;
2. CONTINUE the following referrals to the 2025 PPC:
a. Opportunities to Improve Coordination of Response to Disasters and Other Public Emergencies.
b. Community Warning System
c. Public Safety Realignment and Local Community Corrections Partnership Appointments
d. Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council.
e. Holistic Intervention Partnership, with updates on an as needed basis.
f. Familiar Faces/A3/Stepping Up
g. Animal Services Operations
3. TERMINATE the following PPC referrals:
a. Welfare Fraud Investigation and Prosecution
b. Multi-Language Capability of the Telephone Emergency Notification System (TENS)
c. Inmate Welfare Fund/Telecommunications/Visitations Issues
d. Adult Criminal Justice Fees
e. County Law Enforcement Participation and Interaction with Federal Immigration Authorities
4. REFER the following referrals to another Board Committee:
a. Racial Justice Oversight Body to the Equity Committee.
b. Racial Equity Action Plan to the Equity Committee.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact.
BACKGROUND:
At the end of each calendar year, Board committees provide an annual report on their activities and the progress made on referrals from the Board. The report generally summarizes each referral, describes the Committee's work on the referral during the calendar year, and includes a recommendation as to the future disposition of the referral. The year-end report provides a basis for a work plan for the ensuing year and helps to ensure continuity for multi-year referrals.
Attached is the 2024 Annual Report of the Public Protection Committee. Staff were unable to obtain approval in 2024 due to scheduling conflicts that resulted in the cancellation of the November and December PPC meetings. On February 18, 2025, staff brought the Annual Report to the PPC, which was approved for Board approval.
During its February 18, 2025, the PPC discussed the 2024 activities of the PPC, including its recommendations during their March 4, 2024 meeting, the disposition of all PPC referrals, and directed staff to forward its recommendations to the full Board for approval.
Additional details regarding the Committee’s referral recommendations are below, and will be used, as approved by the Board of Supervisors to set their 2025 Workplan:
CONTINUE the following referrals:
1. Opportunities to Improve Coordination of Response to Disasters and Other Public Emergencies.
2. Community Warning System Contracts- Though this referral was recommended by the PPC at its March 4, 2024 meeting to forward the referral to the Industrial Safety Ordinance/Community Warning System Ad Hoc Committee of the Board, it was never received by the Board for consideration due to the delay with the Committee’s 2024 Annual Report (attached to this staff report). The PPC at its February 18, 2025 meeting discussed continuing this referral to the PPC and directed staff to include this recommendation in its report to the full Board.
Discussion by the PPC on this matter at its February 18, 2025 meeting, concluded that the Community Warning System is part of a countywide system that is not only used in industrial accidents but is critical for public safety emergencies and evacuations with serious incidents like wildfires, law enforcement activity, missing persons and other events where timely notification is necessary to communicate and resolve a serious situation. These concerns and the appropriate oversight are separate from the focus of the Board’s ad hoc committee overseeing the Industrial Safety Ordinance and compliance of local refineries. The charts below, which include data received by the Sheriff’s Office is provided to support the Committee’s discussion.
The Committee Chair mentioned how conflicts have arisen in the past at the Board level due to having dual referrals on the same issue happening between two different Board committees working to come up with potential solutions and may result in different directions to staff through the various committee actions.
The PPC agreed it is the most appropriate body to be receiving reports on the Community Warning System as a whole. Approval will ensure referrals are routed to one committee and then allow full BOS discussion on recommendations that come out of that singular committee.
Based on the information provided, the Committee recommends Board approval to continue this referral to the PPC, with its members working with the Emergency Services Policy Board, which also serves as the County’s Disaster Council.
Below is a summary of the Community Warning System referral history, prior the PPC’s discussion on February 18, 2025:
The Multi-Language Capability of the Telephone Emergency Notification System (TENS) /Community Warning System was referred to the Internal Operations Committee in 2000, then was reassigned to the Public Protection Committee in 2008, where no solution had been identified.
In 2012, PPC recommended that the Community Warning System remain on referral to the PPC, while the Industrial Safety Ordinance Ad Hoc committee review the ISO.
In 2016, the BOS referred a review of the AtHoc, Inc. contract to PPC, combining this review in with the other CWS referrals. The PPC received one update on this referral in 2017.
The referral was brought back to the 2024 PPC for consideration to continue as a referral. At its March 4, 2024 meeting, the PPC directed staff to terminate the TENS piece of the referral and refer the CWS contracts piece of the referral to the Industrial Safety Ordinance/Community Warning System Ad Hoc Committee.
On August 13, 2024, the BOS approved, in its response to the Civil Grand Jury, assignment of all emergency response planning, including CWS issues as a whole, to the Emergency Services Policy Board, which also serves as the County’s Disaster Council.
3. County Support and coordination of non-profit organization resources to provide re-entry services, implementation of AB 109 Public Safety Realignment, and appointment recommendations to the Community Corrections Partnership, under the updated referral title of “Public Safety Realignment and Local Community Corrections Partnership Appointments”.
The coordination of non-profit organization resources for the County’s reentry population has been addressed by the Office of Reentry and Justice, which has implemented robust community outreach and Request for Proposals processes with successful community-based organization engagement.
The Committee approved continuation of this referral and retitling it to refocus the reporting to the Committee on the annual budgetary recommendations from the Community Corrections Partnership Executive Committee for allocation of the State AB 109 Public Safety Realignment Local Community Partnerships allocations, Community Corrections Partnership appointed seat recommendations, and other public safety realignment issues that may arise.
4. Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council.
5. Holistic Intervention Partnership, with updates on an as needed basis.
6. Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime (A3) (Stepping Up), under the updated referral title of “Familiar Faces/A3/Stepping Up”
The proposed referral title will properly follow the evolution of the federal Stepping Up Initiative, which initiated this referral to the PPC. The last reiteration of the initiative is Familiar Faces. The County’s A3 program includes efforts related to both initiatives and the Committee Chair recommended that the referral be retitled as stated above. Continuing this referral will reengage County departments and partners in reporting to a Board committee on the efforts to reduce the number people with mental illnesses in jails that could be better served with different approaches, including diversion and coordinated jail to community transition planning.
7. Animal Services Department Operations.
TERMINATE the following referrals:
1. Welfare Fraud Investigation and Prosecution
The Committee received a report last in 2016 and no further issues have been requested for reporting.
2. Multi-Language Capability of the Telephone Emergency Notification System (TENS) The TENS system is obsolete.
3. Inmate Welfare Fund/Telecommunications/Visitations Issues
The Sheriff provides annual reports to the Board of Supervisors on the expenditure and revenue activities of the Inmate Welfare Fund. The Sheriff also provides quarterly reports to the Board of Supervisors on its operations and other topics can be addressed should concern on this topic surface in the future.
4. Adult Criminal Justice Fees
Adult criminal justice fees, as previously discussed by the Committee, have been eliminated both from the County moratorium and state legislative actions.
5. County Law Enforcement Participation and Interaction with Federal Immigration Authorities
Based on the Board’s discussion at its 2024 TRUTH Act Community Forum held on July 22, 2024, this topic or any follow up as requested by the Board during its annual TRUTH Act Community Forum would return to this Committee for further discussion.
REFER the following referrals to another Board Committee:
1. Racial Justice Oversight Body to the Equity Committee.
At the time the Committee took this action, this referral was under review by the Internal Operations Committee’s triennial review discussions, and reporting to the Equity Committee began before this Committee took action. The referral is now formally under the Equity Committee.
2. Racial Equity Action Plan to the Equity Committee. The Equity Committee was informed of this Committee’s action and agreed to take the lead on any necessary follow up actions required by the Board.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The 2024 PPC year-end report would not be accepted and the continuation or termination of referrals as proposed by the PPC at its February 18, 2025 meeting would not be accepted. Without Board approval of the Committee’s referral recommendations, the development of the Committee’s 2025 Workplan will be impacted.