Dallas County Always Reinventing the Wheel

Once again, the poor stewardship of taxpayers' money is on display with the commissioners' inept management of criminal justice funding. My first example of this came a few years ago with Commissioner Cantrell's Adult Information System (AIS), touted as an integrated criminal justice information software program. It would have tied together arrest info, jail/inmate records, prosecution and court records from several county departments. AIS turned out to be an over-ambitious techno-nightmare that began with a questionable contractor deal involving Cantrell. You can read this fascinating story in this D Magazine piece, "The Schemer." Recently, the DA's office, in utter frustration, abandoned its participation in salvaging the AIS system. AIS is a multi-million dollar failure. Dallas Sheriff's Office is the only agency that I'm aware of still inputting data into AIS, primarily for inmate management. Dallas County is terrible at implementing innovative systems that will guarantee efficiencies and savings in the future. (That's in spite of this lofty "strategic plan" hatched a while back by our commissioners).

Another recent example of such failure is the sloppy management of the county's automotive service center. Commissioners ignored the advice of their own auditors who recommended reasonable reforms to that county department.

So, why not look to other large counties in Texas, or even nationally, to come up with cost-effective solutions to some of our most vexing problems? Tarrant County has a successful software system similar to AIS that Dallas County could have adapted for our use at a fraction of the cost of Cantrell's mess.

This brings me to today's DMN story about Dallas County's reluctance to verify defendants' indigent status when seeking free legal council--free for the defendant, not for the taxpayer. Not surprisingly, Tarrant, Collin and Travis Counties have a verification system that works.

In 2007, there was an upheaval in the Dallas County district courts, when Democrats staged a near-sweep at the polls. Bethke [director of Texas Task Force for Indigent Defense] said he and members of his staff met with the newly elected judges and briefed them on what other Texas counties are doing to screen for indigence. All of the other large urban counties have some system for ensuring that defendants who get free lawyers are actually indigent.

But most of the judges were not interested in doing that here, [Judge] Creuzot said.

Yes, I am convinced that Dallas County citizens live in an idiocracy..... and that most voters are now content with that.

Update on AIS: "Dallas County starts process to replace jail computer system" and a related story, "Dallas County case management software problems continue"

"Exoneration Man" on Discovery Channel

The Dallas D.A.'s Conviction Integrity Unit is the focus of ID (Investigation Discovery) to premiere April 28. Here's the trailer and a 2nd clip here...

Law & Justice With Antonin Scalia

I enjoyed watching NRO's Uncommon Knowledge interview with Justice Scalia. Here it is in five parts....

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

If you like that kind of stuff, then follow it up with a Robert Bork chaser.

No Snitchin, No Peace

I know this for a fact... the no snitching code will never lead to peace in violent communities. Here's some NPR coverage on the subject.

Related posts here, here and here.

The Decriminalization Budget Strategy

... New Hampshire's state Legislature is considering measures that would take away the threat of jail time for some offenses, and in the U.S., the government only has to pay for a defense lawyerwhen poor defendants face incarceration. So taking away the threat of jail saves money, and Keating believes New Hampshire is trying to distinguish between people society is mad at and people society is afraid of. ...

..."If you start to save money at the expense of public safety, you might as well close down your government," says David Capeless, president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association. ...

NPR story:

States Seek To Save By Avoiding Jail Time

With the Dallas D.A. facing draconian personnel cuts, I wonder if the commissioners are ready for the criminal justice triage likely to be required in the aftermath.

Justice on the Cheap

Note to DMN and Dallas Observer--

Here are a few community leaders I'd like to hear from regarding the D.A. budget controversy...

• Former Dallas D.A. Bill Hill
  
• Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle (and other police chiefs)
  
• Former Irving Police Chief & Councilman Lowell Cannaday
  
• Charles Terrell, Chairman of Safer Dallas Better Dallas
  
• Dallas Mayor Tom "We're in this fight together" Leppert
  
• Glenn White, Pres./Dallas Police Association
  

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.--Edmund Burke

Underfunding prosecutors is not just a local phenomenon. Here are some selected articles on that point. Please feel free to add to this list. 

• Justice is priceless, but it's not free
  
• In many states, cost is slowly killing death penalty
  
• State prosecutors may furlough employees (Kentucky)
  
• "the police are living in high cotton compared to prosecutors" (Florida)
  
• Budget cuts for Mobile County DA (Alabama)
  
• ...DA warns about effects of budget cuts (California)

Dallas D.A. Required to Make Bricks Without Straw

Dallas D.A. Craig Watkins held a press conference today in an effort to reach out to voters who are unfamiliar with the unique law enforcement responsibility of his office. He is resisting further budget cuts that threaten to decimate core public safety services to our community. The commissioners court is demanding their 10% of human flesh and, unfortunately for Dallas residents, the commissioners will likely get what they want. What the Dallas Morning News and your county commissioners are failing to tell you are the likely consequences of cutting over 30 prosecutors and investigators from an already understaffed office. The DMN recently offered an editorial, Watkin's Leads in Wrong Direction, to which I commented thusly...

DMN-
Thanks for a vapid editorial that misses the point. The issue at hand is whether or not the DA in its public safety role is exceptional in the county system. Before there was a Craig Watkins, there were John Vance and Bill Hill who also fought some bloody budget battles with the commissioners. I recall Bill Hill having a Jerry Springer moment with Ken Mayfield.

Commissioner Price has said that the court is required to "reasonably fund" the DA's Office. One can argue that the DA is operating today with staffing levels suitable for 1990. The DMN may recall those old Bill Hill studies showing how the Dallas DA does more with less compared with DA's in similar metro communities. This could end up being decided in litigation where a judge will look at the DA's budget history and caseloads then he/she will decide for the commissioners what is "reasonable."

Should the DA's Office suffer a second year of cuts, Dallas citizens should expect to see slower court dockets and an increased jail population. Cutting DA staff is not unlike cutting police officers. Both are essential components of our criminal justice system and job losses from either will impact public safety. I do not agree that law enforcement agencies should be expected to take the same hit as troubled private sector businesses.

Today's events are also covered in this article. Please take time to read through the comments. If you are moved by the arguments, please contact the "usual suspects" at the county and tell them that public safety is a priority that should not be sacrificed.

Saturday Update: read more on this topic of "sacred turf"

Dallas' Public Safety Funding Conundrum

On the one hand, many police agencies in Dallas County are doing what they can in a down economy to fill their ranks. They know that criminals won't be experiencing lay-offs.

From DMN, By the Numbers: Jobs, Interest in Law Enforcement

On the other hand, the defendants brought to the Dallas County Jail by all these new cops may sit there for a while.  By the end of this year, the machinery that moves the inmates through the system may be missing a lot of moving parts. 

See John Wiley Price: DA's Office can afford to lose some prosecutors- from DMN Crime Blog 

The Dallas County Commissioners are about to find out who really controls the jail population.

Good Cop, Bad Cop

Good cop...

DPD Senior Corporal Chris Allen and others.

Bad cop...

Ex-DPD Chief Bolton and others.  [Update: and there's this guy]

Police chiefs around the nation have complained for years that officers fired for serious misconduct are frequently returned to the job by civil service boards, administrative law judges or other city officials.--DMN

Related post: Dust Bunnies Return After Housecleaning

3/8/09- Yet another update on Bolton and this officer.... oh, and this one.

January Items of Interest

A Google Reader collection of stories from last month.

For Libertas Fans

Okay, so I'm a little slow figuring this out. Since the summer of 2008, I've been waiting on the blog Libertas to return from "hiatus." It has been my favorite resource for conservative thought on film. It appears this site is closed as well as the primary author's other site, Dirty Harry's Place. After a bit of detective work, I learned that John Nolte, aka Dirty Harry, is now a contributor to Big Hollywood. Enjoy.

The Politics of Murder

Point and counterpoint.