Report 2013-103 Recommendation 17 Responses

Report 2013-103: Armed Persons With Mental Illness: Insufficient Outreach From the Department of Justice and Poor Reporting From Superior Courts Limit the Identification of Armed Persons With Mental Illness (Release Date: October 2013)

Recommendation #17 To: Justice, Department of

To ensure that it continues to receive information from facilities that currently report individuals with mental illness and that should continue to report such individuals, by January 31, 2014, and at least twice a year thereafter Justice should implement a review of the number of reports it receives from individual mental health facilities. These reviews should focus on identifying any significant drops in a facility's reporting levels and include follow up with facilities that may require additional assistance in reporting.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2015

The Department has revised its procedures to send quarterly reports to all mental health facilities regardless whether the facility has shown a decline in reporting from month to month. A letter addressed to the facility director, along with a bar chart illustrating the data from the previous 14 months of reports submitted to the Department, will be sent to 1/3 of each reporting mental health facility on a monthly rotating basis. This will ensure that each mental health facility receives this report on a quarterly basis. A sample copy of the letter and bar chart will be provided for reference.

The Department continues to contact facilities that show a 30% or more reduction in reporting to gather information as to the reason for the reduction. All facilities that show a reduction of 30% or more are offered training by the Department. If the facility wishes to schedule training, the Mental Health Unit will work with the Training, Information, and Compliance Section to schedule training.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

1-Year Agency Response

System enhancements to produce quarterly and/or date range reports to track individual mental health facility reporting were implemented on October 16, 2014. Desk procedures were implemented for MHU staff to pull these reports at least twice a year to identify any significant reductions in a facility's reporting level and to contact the facility to assess the reason. If applicable, MHU staff will forward any relevant information to the Training, Information and Compliance Section manager to schedule training with the mental health facility.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Partially Implemented

In its response regarding the status of its implementation of this recommendation after the state auditor's report was published, Justice asserted that it had fully implemented this recommendation. Based on our review of documentation provided by Justice at that time, we assessed the recommendation as fully implemented. However, during a follow-up audit, which entailed a more in-depth review of actions Justice has taken to address this recommendation, we found that Justice has not fully implemented the recommendation. The state auditor issued its follow-up audit titled Follow-Up—California Department of Justice: Delays In Fully Implementing Recommendations Prevent It From Accurately and Promptly Identifying All Armed Prohibited Persons With Mental Illness, Resulting in Continued Risk to Public Safety(Report 2015-504), in July 2015.

6-Month Agency Response

The Department is pursuing system enhancements to the Mental Health Firearms Prohibition System (MHFPS) as needed to produce quarterly and/or other date range reports needed to track individual mental health facility reporting. AC Buford submitted a management change request to the Departments Hawkins Data Center (HDC) on November 4, 2013, requesting the needed system enhancement. HDC is on-track to complete the needed system enhancements in June 2014.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Partially Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

The Department is pursuing system enhancements to the Mental Health Firearms Prohibition System (MHFPS) as needed to produce quarterly and/or other date range reports needed to track individual mental health facility reporting. AC Buford submitted a management change request to the Department's Hawkins Data Center (HDC) on November 4, 2013, requesting the needed system enhancement. HDC estimates it will begin work on the needed system enhancements by February 2014.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented

All Recommendations in 2013-103

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.