Public Hearing: YES ? NO ? Department: District Attorney
SUBJECT:
Title
Commission District(s): all
Acceptance of $134,596 Victims of Crimes Act (VOCA) Grant to District Attorney's Office
Body
Information Contact: Sherry Boston or Roz Harris
Phone Number: 770-294-0369
PURPOSE:
To consider accepting the annual Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council in the amount of $134,596 for the District Attorney's Office Victim Assistance Program for the grant year October 01, 2023 - September 30, 202; and
To consider the continuation of two Victim Advocate positions funded by the grant for the grant period, October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024; and
To transfer the remaining existing sixteen grant positions to the D.A.'s Operating Budget and approve $241,808 to cover the positions through December 31, 2023; and
To authorize the CEO to execute all necessary documents.
NEED/IMPACT:
The VOCA grant has funded eleven District Attorney's Victim Advocate positions who are essential to providing a range of services to victims of crime required by the Crime Victims Bill of Rights, O.G.C.A. 17-17-1, including but not limited to notification of court dates, accompaniment to court, emergency safety planning, counseling, and referrals to community agencies. The District Attorney's Office serves approximately 5,000 victims of violent crime each year through its 30-person Victim-Witness Assistance Program. Appropriate staffing is imperative to the workload, and the program cannot withstand a cut to personnel, particularly with the spike in crime, specifically domestic violence and gun violence, that has occurred since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The VOCA grant has been substantially reduced this year due to a multi-year plunge in the amount of federal forfeiture fines collected, the revenue base for the federal VOCA grant. Subsequently, the Distri...
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