Agenda - 09-01-20; 8-a - Minutes

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24 1 de-escalation two years ago, and made it available to all County employees, as well as law 2 enforcement throughout the state. He said there is peer support within the jails, which spread 3 to emergency rooms, and allows people to support each other. He said pre-trial supervision 4 and medicated assisted treatment are other programs where Orange County led the way. He 5 listed many other ways that Orange County is creatively approaching law enforcement with 6 great humanity, patience, and holistic planning to help people succeed and be diverted away 7 from the criminal justice system in the first place. 8 Sheriff Blackwood said he serves on the Racial Justice Task force in Orange and 9 Chatham Counties, where a lot of good work is being done. He said he serves as a 10 Commissioner on the North Carolina Governor's Crime Commission, and is on a special 11 workgroup that is addressing pretrial supervision, bail and bond reform. He said this group has 12 made recommendations to the Governor that will greatly impact the criminal justice system, and 13 provide timely review of first appearances. He said there will also be mandatory training for 14 judges and magistrates. He said there are strong initiatives around the state, as well as locally. 15 Sheriff Blackwood said he is going to put the brakes on the purchase of the mobile 16 command center, and instead will be using those funds for hiring a licensed clinical social 17 worker to be housed with his community resource division's crisis intervention team, as well as 18 hosting specialized training for all NC law enforcement, and any other departments who would 19 like to attend. 20 Sheriff Blackwood thanked Chair Rich for helping him through these past two weeks 21 since the death of George Floyd, and helping him work through some questions he had moving 22 forward. He said he and Chair Rich have formed a partnership out of these challenges, despite 23 being from radically different backgrounds. He said petty differences must be put aside, in 24 order to work together for governmental change and action. He said he is so proud and 25 fortunate to work with the Board and staff that exists in Orange County. 26 Commissioner McKee said he appreciated the Sheriff's comments, and the litany of 27 programs he listed. He said he knows that the community may not know about all of these 28 programs, but together they can serve the community. He said he is old enough to remember 29 how some of these problems were addressed in the past, and he is thankful that things are 30 continuing to change. 31 Commissioner Dorosin thanked Sheriff Blackwood for providing this report and he is 32 encouraged by the Sheriff's engagement beyond the County. He said he is also greatly 33 encourage by the decision with the command center, and re-deploying the funds to other 34 programs. He said the question of SROs is also something to consider for these funds. He 35 said part of this engagement involves hearing from the community in a public forum, and the 36 next agenda item will look more closely at this need. 37 Sheriff Blackwood said the SRO issue is going to be something that the schools are 38 discussing. He said the schools originally requested the SROs, and there is an opportunity to 39 change the face of law enforcement in the schools. He said there has to be a way to close the 40 gap of the response between the incident and the arrival of law enforcement. He said this will 41 be an ongoing discussion. 42 Sheriff Blackwood said he has already started having community discussions, and he 43 serves all people of the County. He said he is going on the road to talk to anyone. He said he 44 would like to have known about the forum before it was proposed publically, so he did not 45 appreciate how the community forum idea transpired. He said he can get over that, and they 46 can move forward together. 47 Commissioner Dorosin said the intent was to for all of them to put something together 48 collectively. 49 Commissioner Greene said she appreciated the Sheriff's comments tonight, and she 50 especially pleased to hear of the redirection of the forfeiture funds.