Report 2021-113 Recommendation 17 Responses

Report 2021-113: Batterer Intervention Programs: State Guidance and Oversight Are Needed to Effectively Reduce Domestic Violence (Release Date: October 2022)

Recommendation #17 To: Contra Costa County Probation Department

To ensure that offenders are held accountable for complying with the conditions of their probation, Contra Costa Probation should, by April 2023, formalize and implement comprehensive policies and procedures for domestic violence case management that clearly describe the department's expectations for probation staff's compliance with state law.

1-Year Agency Response

Contra Costa Probation created a Domestic Violence policy which was approved on April 1, 2023. That policy has since been amended and was updated in September 2023 to describe the Department's expectations more clearly for staff's compliance with state law.

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

6-Month Agency Response

As indicated in the December 2022 response, Contra Costa Probation created a committee, hereinafter referred to as The Committee, in November of 2022 to review the Domestic Violence (DV) supervision policies of other counties in California. Since the last reporting, The Committee submitted a draft of the proposed DV policy to Probation Administration. The DV policy was approved and implemented on 4/13/2023.

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

We disagree with Contra Costa Probation's assertion that it has formalized and implemented comprehensive policies and procedures for domestic violence case management that clearly describe the department's expectations for probation staff's compliance with state law. The domestic violence case management policy that Contra Costa Probation submitted for our review is less than three pages and does not comprehensively address key concerns we raised in our audit, such as the time frame in which probation officers must report probation violations to the court, that probation officers must conduct an initial assessment of all individuals placed on formal probation, as state law requires, and that probation officers do not have the authority to determine whether to excuse offenders' absences, as state law places this responsibility solely on the program providers. Until it develops and implements such comprehensive policies and procedures, we will continue to report this recommendation as not fully implemented.

60-Day Agency Response

Contra Costa Probation created a committee, hereinafter referred to as The Committee, in November of 2022 to review the Domestic Violence (DV) supervision policies of other counties in California. The chairperson of The Committee is Deputy Probation Officer Andrew Scroggy, Contra Costa Probation's Batter's Intervention Program (BIP) Certification Officer. We are diligently working on tailoring a Domestic Violence Offender Supervision policy that will best suit the needs of Contra Costa as well as ensure our compliance with state law. The first draft of this policy will be submitted in mid to late January 2023 to Probation Supervisor Lori Militar, supervisor of the Domestic Violence Unit, who will be responsible for implementation. It is the hope that this policy can be approved and implemented by April of 2023 or soon thereafter.

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

All Recommendations in 2021-113

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.