Follow-up on Public Safety

We had a long discussion today on public safety, and the recent, horrific murder of Esme Kenney. While it does not appear that the County was directly involved, all of us in government have a responsibility to get to the bottom of it, and ensure that this never happens again in our community, and that our citizens--and children in particular--are safe.

A couple steps we will be taking:

1. Prosecutor Joe Deters and I talked, and in addition to prosecuting the case, his office will be conducting an analaysis of each stage the alleged defendant took in the criminal justice process. This will examine which and when critical mistakes were made to allow such a dangerous person to be on the street. We will then work to ensure such mistakes can and do not happen again.

2. Todd Portune is working on a letter that will push our state leaders to require a far more stringent chain of custody requirement for dangerous offenders such as this, so they do not fall through the cracks.

3. City Council has drafted a letter to the Governor asking that the VOA Pogue Center be shut down. From what we know so far, I agree with them. I understand the Enquirer's caution not to react hastily or short-sightedly. And generally, I'd rather have predators such as this monitored in a well-run facility rather than roaming the streets if/when they have completed their sentence. (Although I think we should have NO facilities "importing" offenders from outside the County, and have previously made that clear).

But some mistakes are so egregious, so colossal, display such bad judgment, and carry such horrific consequences, that there must be true accountability. In my book, when the consequences are clearly so potentially dangerous, failing to release someone who had this egregious history and high-risk potential in a way that guarantees a smooth and safe handoff is one of those mistakes. Just like some acts are "fireable" offenses, the apparent failure here is the same. And imposing real accountability in this case will send a loud and clear message to other such facilities that breakdowns such as this are beyond the pale. Such accountability may be the best way to ensure a mistake like this never happens again.

4. Whether or not they were directly involved, all governments in the corrections/custody business must ensure that they have a system that guarantees that when a dangerous predator such as this is in their custody, they will never release them, knowingly (of course) or even unintentionally. It's no secret that after the failure of our Comprehensive Safety Plan, the Sheriff must unfortunately conduct "stationhouse releases"--which he has had to do at various times over the years. We must ensure that when the Sheriff does release offenders through this process, there is a risk assessment done, and an examination of their criminal history, before release (as opposed to just looking at the most recent criminal charge, which can conceal a far more dangerous background and potential). We must apply the same rigorous release standards across the board (to government and non-profit facilities alike).

5. Finally, a story over the weekend highlighted the shortage of electronic monitoring units in our county system. These EMUs can play a very positive role in relieving jail overcrowding, and reduce the number of releases. We will look to use stimulus dollars to both purchase new EMU units, and to pay staff sufficient to monitor and manage those new units. I have also asked several councilmembers to have the City consider doing the same.