Well, again, I'm going to say for the record, I am not attempting to 2431 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET defame you. And you must have had some conversation with him prior to this public hearing taking place because the story is in the paper today and you had no idea that, I'm assuming, either when the story was going to run or that anyone, including myself, was going to ask a question. But I do resent --
If you're trying to imply that I'm trying to defame you, 1, you are wrong; 2, I think I have a right to ask a question; 3, I think if you go back and read the transcript no 13 charge or allegation has been made. I have asked questions, which I think as a member of Council I have a right to do.
Okay. I appreciate that. So what are the rules, just for the record, on political activities by public employees?
Because I'd be happy to send you a written guidance on that issue. 2432 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
I think everything we ask generally in a budget hearing has to do with the budget. But you're at the table and I think you're in a position to kind of generally answer that question. What is the rule?
It's more appropriate to respond you in an opinion delineated each one of the issues I don't miss anything regarding the area of political activity, involvement of City employees.
And obviously, that's why we put the web on so that people can go through the web and if they have specific questions they can then get specific opinions from the Law Department.
I understand. Generally, unless you're going to radically change our policy, I mean, more often times than not, I think most of our opinions are probably going to still come by way of document and paper.
And initial or signature or something like that on the document.
Okay. I do appreciate the information and your responsiveness.
I just have a question to ask you. The federal employees are covered by the Hatch Act.
No, we're under the City Charter. The Federal Hatch Act essentially has allowed individuals now to be involved in political activities as long it's their own time. And prior to the amendment to the Hatch Act, they couldn't participate at all. And now only senior executives are limited from participating in political 2434 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET activities under the federal government. That's what they call SESs.
And our Code essentially totally limits us totally based upon the City Charter. For example, your employees don't have the same restrictions as the employees of the Mayor's Office.
So my Council employees can engage in political activities?
They have a totally different requirement under the City Charter.
You're welcome. Are there any other questions or comments of the Law Department? (No response.)
Seeing none, the Committee will stand in recess until 12:30, today. Thank you. (Hearing recessed.)
Good afternoon. I want to thank everybody for your patients. This is 2435 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET the continued public hearing Committee of the Whole. We will now hear from the District Attorney.
Council President Verna, Members of the City Council, my name is Lynne Abraham. I'm the District Attorney of Philadelphia. I have previously distributed to this body a brief statement of one and a half pages. Essentially, this report says that last year I appeared before you and requested a zero increase in all budget categories except Class 100. And in that class, you approved a request for 1.7 percent increase. This figure, of course, was not sufficient to cover all of the fully contracted cost of living increases but, nevertheless, we were able through fiscal prudence to live within our budget. This year it appears as though the City's financial picture has even worsened. Plus, we are faced with the possible threat of war and the national economy and City revenues have continued to decline. On the other hand, our costs have continued to rise. But as a result, I've been asked by the Mayor to, again, exercise fiscal discipline and restraint and to accept a budget decrease. At the same time, I believe that our City's safety is 2436 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET my No. 1 priority and I'm sure it's the City's No. 1 priority. Therefore, I'm giving a budget to Council that ensures that my office has a continued high level of performance while recognizing the realities of our fiscal City situation. As last year, I am requesting no 8 increase in Class 200, 300 or 400, but what I am seeking for personnel costs is a Class 100 situation which will represent a 1.5 percent decrease, when one factors into contracted cost of living increases and the lump sum anticipated payments due to DROP membership. In order to make this reduced budget work appropriately, I'm requesting a no cost transfer of 100,000 from Class 100 to Class 200. We requested that this information be put in the -- by the Budget Bureau in the budget detail and it was timely submitted by us. However, the Budget Bureau neglected to include it in the budget pages submitted to Council. The Budget Bureau apologized for their oversight and they have agreed to present this transfer request to you in the fall. And that's my entire statement, Councilwoman.
Thank you. Mr. Dubow, you're taking care of this 2437 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET issue?
Thank you. Can you tell us how many of your employees are in the DROP Program and if they will be going out this year?
We believe it's about eight, eight to nine, and they are going out this year.
Are they all attorneys or is that part of the clerical staff also?
It's mixture of attorneys non-attorney personnel. There are, of course, additional DROP people who do not go out this year. If you need the specifics, we'll be happy to provide them to you.
No, I'm just wondering. Wouldn't you have to replace most of these people? Nd is that included in your budget once you have paid them for their sick time and vacation time?
Yes, we have, Councilwoman. In other words, it's all in there. 2438 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
It's fine. I mean, if you're asking do I want more; of course. But is it fine the what it is; I accept the realities of the City's financial situation. I want to help the Mayor and Council do its appropriate work while keeping the City safe.
Thank you, Madam President. Good morning, District Attorney.
The first couple of years I was here, you gave a lot discussion around the truancy initiative by the District Attorney's Office. And it's interesting in just today's Daily News there's an editorial which speaks about the 15,000 truant students we still have. The School District has undertaken some great initiatives. But can you give me an update on the involvement of your office? Is the 15,000 a decrease or an increase and 2439 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET what lies ahead around this whole truancy citywide effort?
Councilwoman, as you know, we have been deeply concerned about truancy because it is a marker -- it's not a predictor but it is a marker of young people we see who are involved in the criminal justice system and our juvenile divisions. You show me a kid who is truant, and the chances are enhanced that he or she while not in school may get himself into criminal justice problems; if not, just outright mischief and incorrigibility in the home and in the community. The truancy initiative in our office still stands. And when Paul Vallas came to Philadelphia, I can't say I'm the first, but one of the first people he came to visit was my office. And we had extensive discussions about truancy. Sometime later on down the road, he wanted us to come over and discuss with him and his staff our truancy initiative and then further elicited our help in training the parent truant officers, if that's the right word. They used to be truant officers, then they called them attendance officers. They really are truant officers. And we have done 2440 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET that. And I personally went to the classes with the parents and talked to them about their role and how important their own input would be. And we continue to be hopeful. We're hopeful because I think with the new Administration, we're hopeful that the City school system will not see the need to lie to us any more about how many people are in school. As I mentioned in my previous testimony, which I stand by, we found that there were essentially two sets of books. One that they gave to us and then the other books. The ones they gave to us make it look as though there were more kids going to school than there were. But we found a way to find out the real situation, and we have advised Mr. Vallas and his staff about this. They have assured us that there's not going to be anymore cooking the books, that they will count the number of absentees correctly and they agree with us that it is not appropriate for the school system to wait 10, 15, 20, or days. 21 They're jumping on it right away. And the extra 22 emphasis of parental involvement by these newly 23 trained men and women I think will add an extra 24 underscore to the emphasis about going to school and 25 staying in school. 2441 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
And why it's important. Does any of your budget cover the cost of these additional parent truant officers, or is that strictly the School District?
No, we did this as a volunteer labor of love position because we want to help the school system succeed so we went to the School District and we entered into those training Sessions just as a favor to Paul Vallas and his staff.
And is the 15,000 an increase or decrease from recent years, might you recall? It's currently 15,000.
I think that's the same, isn't it? It's a decrease, Councilwoman.
Which speaks to the value of the program. Finally, we heard earlier testimony from the Mayor's Office of Community Services that they run two truant programs, if you will. Do you know 2442 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET what the total number is?
I certainly don't, I'm sorry to say. You're asking me how many truancy programs?
I don't know. Our goal is obviously criminal justice related and educationally related. In other words, we're looking to decrease the number of kids who wind up in front of youth aid panels or the courts by emphasizing in all that we do the need to go to school. And just as an aside, again, as a labor of love of my office, we have between 600 and 1,000 school children we invite to our office throughout the year every year. We feed them lunch. We introduce them to the criminal justice system from a jobs perspective point of view. We mentor them and offer them new ways to think about career options. Their teachers love it. We love it. And it's a good way to show youngsters to think universally when you're thinking education and job opportunities. So this is something that I started 2443 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET several years ago, and it's increased in popularity and support throughout the School System of Philadelphia.
I'd like to speak with you later about that in a smaller setting.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Just one quick question. It's kind of somewhat related to testimony that we had yesterday when we had the courts in and the Clerk of Quarter Sessions and there was some requests for additional funding in part because of increased arrests, increase cases associated with crack down on crime, drugs. And I asked a question about some statistics that I didn't 2444 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET quite understand. And I got an explanation, but to be honest with you, I still didn't understand that particular explanation. Maybe you can shed some light on that. My understanding is that the prison population is down from prior months. And I basically asked if the increase in arrests and cases, why do we have a decrease in the prison population?
I'm disadvantage because I didn't hear what the Clerk of Quarter Sessions or whoever the official was who appeared before the committee. But the prison population can be decreased for a variety of reasons. Number 1, because of the offenders who are being arrested by the police, many of them are capable of posting bail because of the nature of the charges. There could be increased paroling power of the court. There could have been sentencing by our courts to state prisons. There could be a variety of reasons why the population is lower, although as I was given to understand over the past several months, the prison population was over 8,000. Now, that in and of itself is a very high figure, and I don't know what 2445 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET the figure is today. And I'm just sort of speculating or guessing what the decrease is, but essentially if a person is arrested by the police for possession of a small amount of drugs in his or her possession, that's bailable. And a lot of our bail commissioners would put that person out on nominal bail or a figure of bail, say, 10,000, but no money is posted. The defendant just signs his or her name to this imaginary bail bond and says that if they fail to appear, they'll pay $10,000. Well, they frequently fail to appear and there's no effort to collect the $10,000. So any number of things can explain a diminution of population in the prison without diminishing necessarily the numbers of arrests.
But that's not abnormal. Is there anything abnormal going on, to your knowledge? People have been able to post bail.
I'm not aware of anything that's abnormal. Remember, the police arrests have piqued and they go up and down, like anything else. Prison populations go up and down, but I'm not aware of anything, to use your term, abnormal about the population decreasing. Obviously, one of the things 2446 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET is you have to be careful that prisons don't get too overcrowded that we have another lawsuit on the City's hands.
I'm comfortable with the fact that the population is decreasing. I guess what I'm trying to find out, are we accepting more plea bargains or is there something going on with individual's ability to now post bail as opposed to in prior years?
All right. I was just trying to get an explanation. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President.
You're welcome. At this time the Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, Madam District Attorney.
I wanted to ask a question about -19 in the budget book.
I don't have that before 2447 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET me, I'm sorry to say, Councilman. Would you indulge me a moment while a take a look at this so we can try to ascertain what it is? We have it. Thank you.
I didn't think Rob and company were getting so cheap that they weren't giving the departments the details of their own budgets. I just wanted to ask -- it makes mention here the grants are basically passed through grants to organizations that are assisting the office and structural dealings with crime victims. Who are these grants going to?
These are essentially community-based organizations, victim witnesses assistance folks who work out in the community in every neighborhood of the City.
Do we have a listing of the recipients or participants in the program?
Yes, sir, I think we do, Councilman. Just give us a moment while we try to find those names for you.
We have a pass-through from PCCD, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, that gives the money to us and we pass through to the Philadelphia Children's Alliance, for example. We have another one, a grant as a pass-through to the Anti-violence Partnership. Let me just see if there are any others. We also have a pass-through to St. Gabriel's Hall that does our juvenile work. I think those are the three that would cover that amount of money, Councilman.
Okay. If you could provide to the Chair a detailed listing of the organizations, who they are and what they do, that would certainly be helpful.
You mean people who come from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and delinquency that refer to this document, 31-19?
-19, you want a list of the groups who are getting that money and source of the money?
We will provide that. 2449 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
We get materials from your office from time to time, which I do appreciate, with regard to the -- I don't want to call it -- it's not a sheriff's sale, it's the forfeiture of properties. And there are these, I guess they call them, auctions.
Auctions, it's a public auction, yes. Ever state legislator, representative, and senator, all elected officials and the general public, these are all advertised sales at public automation, yes.
Could you get us a list for the past year and maybe categorize it by ZIP code as to how many properties actually went through the auction process and then the total number that was at least available for auction? I don't know if every property gets taken when you have these auctions, but if you could also detail which properties were actually acquired by people through the forfeiture process, I'd appreciate it.
Thank you. I wanted to ask you about a recent news account regarding a State Supreme Court committee on 2450 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET the issue of moratorium regarding the death penalty. Are you familiar with that committee and its work.
I know the committee. I haven't had a chance to read the report since it was just issued, I think, two days ago.
All right. I think the news account was Wednesday, March 5th, the story ran, but I think it's actually a fairly large report. We've had some discussion about this particular issue in the past. Are you aware of any of the members of the committee, any of the people who served on the committee?
Councilman, I'm sorry, I don't remember who was on the committee. I'm sure that I know some of them by either name or some sort of association, but I haven't yet received a copy of the report.
Has anything, whether it's this Pennsylvania report, and we acknowledge that you haven't had a chance to read it, but has anything happened in the course of past year, given some of the other events are the actions taken, for instance, in other states that has given 2451 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET you any concern with regard to the issue of the death penalty in general or moratoriums specifically with regard to Pennsylvania?
Councilman, I am always concerned about people to assassinate people on our street and I'm always concerned about the pursuit of justice. We, as I've told you previously, consider the death penalty the last resort of our society, and we seek it only in cases that we deem appropriate rate and leave those decisions up to our public. The debate about capital punishment has existed in this country as long as there's been capital punishment. And we are, obviously, involved in the debate. So to that extent, we're always concerned about how we best achieve justice. And we believe that until or unless the Governor says, "I'm going to agree on a moratorium," which he has so far decided he is not in favor of or our legislature decides the law or our courts decide to strike down the law, we will follow the law of Pennsylvania and the United States Constitution and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
But did I understand you to say that if the Governor is in support of the 2452 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET moratorium, you would then be in support of the moratorium?
I don't know what he's going to say and I'm not going to guess what the governor is going to say until and unless he says it.
I understand that, and I'm not trying to guess either. I was taking it based on the statement that you made and you made reference to the Governor and what he might say. And I understand that the dealt penalty can be imposed in accordance with the State guidelines. Some of our discussions in the past has been, I think, in the area of whether or not it must be imposed as opposed to either life with no parole or other measures that can be taken. I think you've characterized it more as, "It's the law and we're going to follow the law," but you're not always required to seek the death penalty; is that correct?
We are not required to seek the death penalty. It is discretionary, and we exercise our discretion with care and caution and with a lot of thought.
Lastly, as a part of 2453 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET this particular debate, and there was -- I don't know if you saw the newspaper story. It was on the front page of the Inquirer on Wednesday, the 5th, the top of the fold, there was a chart, and I just want to ask you about some of the figures in the chart and what your views might be. From the report, it indicates that percentage of inmates on death row who are categorized as black is 62.4, but that blacks comprise 9 percent of Pennsylvania's general population and that whites on death row are 30.6 percent whereas the white population in Pennsylvania is listed as 87 percent. Do those numbers either surprise you or give you any pause for concern as it relates to how death penalty cases are either handled or how certain people end up on death row? Do those numbers seem unusual to you?
Well, they seem unusual in this respect -- and again, I'm at a disadvantage. I don't have the report. I haven't looked at the methodology or --
I'm sorry, may I finish my statement? 2454 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
I haven't looked at the report. I have received a report. No one sent it to me yet. I haven't examined the methodology or the reasons for the conclusions reached. But I will state as an observation, and I can't go further than that, I don't know why they would use as a comparison the figure of the numbers of blacks in the population, the general population of Pennsylvania, and use that against the number of prisoners in prison. I think that's the wrong way to measure whether the death penalty is being sought appropriately. So I can't think of a worse way to make a comparison than to say, "Well, the general population of the State is X, and the population of death row is Y, so therefore this is the correct measure." I think a better and more fruitful way was to look at perhaps the prison population or those of the prison population who commit murder, not the general population, and then see if that's an appropriate counterbalance. In other words, vis-a-vis, the number of people on death row, how many people commit murder, how many people are of what race or another and to see if there's a 2455 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET correlation between those figures, not the general population of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The general population is not committing murder, it's a small percentage of that population, so you comparing apples and oranges, frankly.
I understand. Do you think that from a percentage basis, the percentage of African Americans who commit murder are on death row in the same percentage as the percentage of whites who commit murder who are on death row? Are those numbers flat?
Councilman, unless I know the numbers and have a chance to look at it, I'm not in a position today to answer your questions.
But based on what you said earlier in terms of an analysis or a comparison, I think your premise is -- and I don't want to state what your premise is, but --
My premise is they used the wrong way to compare population to population.
I understand that. But you would think that the if the system is operating fairly that the percentage of one race that commits murder, a comparative number or number 2456 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET close to that should be the same percentage who are on death row has compared to the other.
I think that would be a better way of measuring it, Councilman. I'm not saying --
We'd have to take a look at that, Councilman, and see whether our methodology and figures is a better measuring place than the general population of Pennsylvania.
If there was a disproportion between those two figures, would that give you concern.
Well, Councilman, I'll tell you what, I am concerned about justice in Philadelphia. And when the Supreme Court reviews the report and shares it with us and we have a chance to discuss it more fully, I'll be in better position to answer your question. I don't think that it's appropriate here to just stand up or sit down and bandy things about without a full reading of the report and an analysis of what was decided and why. Only then when we analyze what the 2457 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET committee did and why can we then look at those figures and say what is and what is not disproportionate.
I can certainly appreciate your a perspective, and I don't know why the court didn't send you a copy. I don't have a copy either. I just read the newspaper story. I at least have access to that. And the jump of the newspaper story actually apparently directs people to the court's web site and I think anyone can get it have access to it. At least from my perspective, as taxpayers dollars are being used to potentially send someone to prison and on death row and to, as has been characterized I think the penalty of last resort, it is at least from my perspective more than appropriate to ask in a budget hearing how taxpayer dollars are being used especially in light of some of the controversy and increased the amount of debate on that particular issue, not only from a cost standpoint but also certainly from a human standpoint. So I can appreciate that we won't have a full debate and discussion about this. And if you do have an opportunity to access the court's web site, that might be the easiest way to get ahold of 2458 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET the document. But we have, as you know, had some of this conversation in the past. I think it is an important public issue. We're all public servants trying to represent our respective constituents, and it is an item of active conversation and debate as late as last week out of a committee established by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. So, obviously, the Court must care somewhat about this particular issue. I don't know why they established a committee, but when you look at the list of people who are on the committee -- and I think you're right, you'd probably recognize some of these names. Judge Chen and Andre Dennis and our City Solicitor Nelson Diaz, and Professor Haddon up at Temple and Charisse Lillie and Lynn Marks, I mean, some fairly well-known Philadelphians. There might be others. I don't know some of the other people on the list. Sounds like a fairly decent group of folks who were serious about looking at this issue. So I'll b glad to pass on any additional information I get. I appreciate your viewpoint. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. 2459 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
Thank you. Are there any other questions from Members of City Council? (No response.)
There being no 7 further questions, you may be excused.
Next we have the Defender Association. Good afternoon.
Good to see you too. Welcome. Would you like to proceed with your testimony? I see it's quite extensive, but you'll summarize it.
It will be a very brief summary, Councilwoman, I assure you. My thanks to you and to the Members of City Council for allowing us to appear here today. It gives us an opportunity to thank you for the continuing support of the Defender Association over the years, and most specifically this year we're very grateful that the Mayor and City Council have 2460 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET agreed to an administrative pay plan that will help us over a four-year period to gain parity with the City support staff which will help us in terms of stability and productivity. We're also busy working with the various Welfare to Work Programs to build a better work force for Philadelphia. This is a tremendous help to us. The biggest news for us in 2002 and the biggest dislocation we've had in a long time was our move from the offices at 17th and Arch to 1441 Sansom Street which was accomplished at the beginning of July in 2002. I must introduce my first assistant Charles Cunningham on my left and our Controller Salim Twardos on my right, and thank those specifically as well our business manager Linda Kozinski and my assistant Chris and our Assistant Controller Christian Mule who along with our Information Systems Manager Rus Tower were responsible for probably as seamless a move as was possible under the circumstances, but it was extremely stressful. In addition to moving into a building that was not completed and our elevators weren't ready, we have a landlord who was building 2461 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET apartments over our heads, so it's been a daunting to get relocated, to get our new voice over data system in place and our computers converted to windows 2000. So I express publicly a great deal of thanks to the business manager as well as to our information systems manager and his small staff for completing this work. We also worked extensively during this year with City agencies, Capital Programs, Public Property, and Finance to see that we're doing the best with the money that we have and what we need to be economical in this new very costly location we're in as compared to where we were. We're in the midst of having an energy audit done because our electric bills have skyrocketed well beyond what was expected. But we keep on trucking in terms of where we are in trying to get things set up for our staff. As a brief recap of the work over last year and partly in answer to Councilman Clarke's question, the reason why the prison population is down is that there are fewer arrests. It's a very simple equation. There were 3,000 fewer arrests in 2002 than in 2001. Right now, we have seen a drop on a monthly basis to well below -- what had become 2462 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET the standard last year was about 4,000 arrests a month. It's now slipping down about 300 a month, which is why primarily the prison population has fallen below 8,000, the high watermark it reached just a month or so ago. During last year we were appointed to represent clients in 72,000 cases. We handled an astronomical 377,000 court listings for our clients and also produced 75,000 miscellaneous pieces of work such as social service interventions, investigations and interviews. What we've seen, just a brief snapshot, over ther last is we have seen a levelling off in terms of the numbers of cases except probably homicide and our special defense. But Municipal Court cases have leveled off at about, for us, 80,000 listings a year, which is a lot of cases, but it's 6,000 below what it was the year before. So the cases have leveled off.
Not that it's not still an extremely heavy load, but what we're seeing is a very significant increase more in the social service aspects of what we're doing for our clients, and this, too, is part of why the prison population is dropping is because more people are being released 2463 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET to go to treatment programs and on early parole through the efforts of our Probation Department or Adult Social Service. Adult Social Service last year had an increase of 40 percent in the numbers of cases that they were handling. And our clients who were placed into treatment programs jumped from 874 in 2001 to 2700 last year, so there's a threefold increase in the number of people we're placing or being able to place in treatment programs. Of those persons, 86 percent of them were in jail at the time they were released to go into treatment. So I think we're beginning to feel the affect the FIR Program, the Forensic Intensive Recovery Program, and the numbers of people we're able to get out and into treatment. It's really very encouraging how well we've done on alternatives to incarceration. The Probation Department, as I mentioned, last year handled 50,000 probation hearings and handled an additional 40,000 calls and letters from clients and their family. Our Juvenile Unit this past year was honored with the American Bar Association's Juvenile 2464 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET Defender Leadership Award and also was busy during this year producing a video with a grant that we received. It's entitled "Protecting the Rights of Philadelphia's Children," which we completed a couple months ago and will be using in schools and at the Youth Study Center to educate children on what their rights are and how the judicial system operates. We've also done a lot of work in our Juvenile Unit on the girl's initiative because there has over the years been a disparate treatment of young women because there have not been treatment facilities available for girls. The Assistant Chief of our unit, Sandra Sifkins (ph), has been very much involved in this, not only the disparate treatment issues, but also abuse issues. Many of the girls who are arrested have been subjected to abuse, whether it's physical or sexual. And a lot of the things they get arrested for are acting as a result of that abuse. So we've been working over probably now three years on a girl's initiative. Our Juvenile Social Services, I mentioned also has a significant increase in the number of cases, a 27 percent increase in the cases that they're handling, 2465 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET so that piece of our work is really burgeoning. Our Prison Services Unit has succeeded in a program this year to bring down state prisoners so that they may get a speedy trial. And also we have succeeded in being able to bring them down to Graterford. We did this on our initiative with courts and the DA and everyone else to see that there would be space for them to stay at Graterford so they could be brought to Philadelphia just for the day and not crowd the Philadelphia prisons, have their trial heard, and then also if they have preliminary hearings to take care of, preliminary hearings as well. This was a new program, and there were 350 state prisons who took advantage of this opportunity. The last two programs we've been very involved with over the last year have been Community Court which has actually had a one-year anniversary. We've represented 600 clients in Community Court on misdemeanor charges, and it's really been enormously successful especially in terms of the wide variety of treatment programs that have been available and the social service piece has been very well developed in community court and is working very 2466 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET well. We're also involved and have been since April '97 in Treatment Court which deals with the persons involved in misdemeanors and felony drug-related offenses.
In that five-year plus time since April '97, 85 percent of those who have gone through Treatment Court, and it takes a full year, 85 percent of them have successfully completed a year without any further involvement with the law. That's 480 people and that's 480 people who might otherwise be in prison but have taken advantage of this program. It's been a wonderful success. That's just a brief snapshot of some of the work we're involved in in addition to all the daily courtrooms we are staffing. 6 million for Fiscal Year 2004. We have been meeting with the Budget Director and re continuing our meetings to resolve some unresolved issues from Fiscal Year 2003 so that we can determine a proper base for Fiscal Year '04. We're working on those issues and we met probably, I guess, about a month ago now and our discussions are ongoing with Budget Director Dubow. 2467 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET For Fiscal Year 2004, we will requesting an additional amount of $817,300 in recurring costs. And it's divided into just two categories, $760,000 for additional costs of benefits and insurance for our staff, and $57,300 for additional utilities expenses that we have incurred in our new location. 90 per square foot. So you can see why we've been working with Public Property to get an energy audit and to find out exactly what's going on and if that's what we're going to face. So that's what that additional amount is. In addition to that, there's only one other non-recurring request, and that's for $83,000 for a back-up generator for our telecommunications system. We had allocated 50,000 for that, but the estimate because it has to be now placed on the roof of the building has skyrocketed and it's up to $133,000. So those are the requests that we are making of City Council that we have made to the Budget Director on behalf of the Mayor. I can say at this point in time we will certainly continue as we have over these many years 2468 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET to provide what we consider to be high-quality legal representation in the most fiscally responsible way we can. I thank you for all your support over the years and thank you for hearing us out today.
Thank you. And we thank you for your support and your leadership through the years. I think it's great that the prison population is down and the arrests are down and that clients are receiving drug treatment. Are you working with the -- I guess the question I really want to ask you, do you believe that the state budget, Governor Rendell's budget and the cutback in the drug and alcohol abuse funds will have a serious impact on what your are trying to do?
My expectation will be that it will. Because most of the funding for these treatment is handled through Philadelphia's Department of Health and I don't know where they fair in the Governor's budget, but it seems as though everyone who's engaged in anything to do with the social services network is going to be hit. I know we have already been told in terms of our work in the Juvenile Unit, but this comes from the Justice Department in Washington, that they will be 2469 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET cutting out some of the our grants that we have had for work with juveniles for mental health cases, for those who have special education problems. Those grants will be disappearing right away at the end of this fiscal year. I would expect certainly that we're going to feel the impact of the budget as it presently exists that the Governor has presented to the House and Senate.
Charles Cunningham. I think you're rightfully concerned about the cutback on these things. I think one of the things we need take a look at is the success of programs such as Treatment Court and the FIR Program because if these programs are impacted, then what you're going to see is you're going to see everything rise. The first thing you're going to see is a rise in the prison level again. So you're really looking at a situation where people are going to have to say, you can pay me a little bit now or you can pay me a lot later. And I think there needs to be a reexamination as to what needs to be cut because in the end, if you cut these programs back and you deprive these people of the means to get the treatment, then you're only going to create a 2470 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET problem down the road. And that's what we're going to be facing. And I think, once again, if you look at the impact that these programs are having and the success that they're having, then there's no -- what we really should be talking about is expanding these programs to make the treatment more available rather than less available.
We agree with you on that. Are you allowed to taken any action to notify our Congressional Delegation about the possible loss of those grants?
Very happy to be supportive of that. The Chair now recognizes Councilman Nutter.
I don't have don't have a question. I do have a comment. Ms. Greenlee, I was quite pleased after at least all the little time that I've been here, what I thought I heard you say was that as a result of the ongoing discussions with the Budget Office 2471 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET which my recollection is -- and it may predate my time, but I know this issue of pay parity with the District Attorney's Office certainly came up during my time in, I think, the early '90s. Did I understand your statement to say that that parity has now been reached and is not just the illusive goal?
With the attorney staff no, it has not -- the equality has not been reached. The pay equity plan ended last year. I'm sure that the District Attorney has stepped a bit of us because she will never allow us to catch her. And I know that their starting salary probably is at least a thousand or 1500 more than ours. What I was talking about, actually, was the administrative pay plan today because we're just starting that in the hopes of catching up with the City. But we will start to fall behind the District Attorney in terms of attorney salaries.
You will keep the Council informed of that situation. I know it kind of ebbs and flows, but there has been a concern over at least the past 8, 9, 10 years about the pay parity issue and access to a wide variety of 2472 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET resources so that you can do your part in the administration of justice and the District Attorney can do her part in the administration of justice. And I think when the two parts are working together, you actually have something that is close to what any of us might think is a fair system of justice. But both sides have to, I think, have adequate resources. I think on our side you've been working with the President's office and Finance staff on these kinds of issues over the past couple years?
Well, actually, we've probably worked more with the City's Budget Office than we have with Council.
I understand. Rob's a good person to work with no matter what I say about him from this particular vantage point. He does track after the money. No better person to look after your own funds because he treats the City budget as if it is coming out his pocket personally. So the answer is, "No. I'm sorry what was the question?" (Laughter.)
Seriously, you'll 2473 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET keep us informed as to what's going on?
We will. Actually, the biggest difficulty is trying to get any accurate information as to what the District Attorney is paying people. So it's a little hard to know exactly where we are, although that I am sure that we are certainly a little bit behind if not a lot behind.
Ms. Greenlee, I just left your nephew. He told me to say hi.
I just got a from my legislative assistant about some earlier question I had asked, actually, yesterday and as recent as today. I had a question about this whole issue of prison population, arrests. In earlier 2474 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET testimony from the First Judicial District and the Clerk of Quarter Sessions. I think there was actually a request for an increase because the increased number of arrests as a result of the crackdown on crime, Safe Streets, on and on and on. And I asked about the fact that the information that we had received that the prison population was down to 7100 and to explain why that is the case. And I was told that essentially people are able to make bail now more so than they were in past. I've heard that people were referred to state prison as opposed to the county prison. There were a number of things that were told to me that created that particular scenario. I guess now I need to ask you since I've talked to essentially three branches of government as it relates to judicial system, the First Judicial Clerk of Quarter Sessions, and the District Attorney today. They all gave me similar responses. Can you first clarify the prison population, did that in fact go down?
Yes, it has gone down. It reached a high point of 8,000 probably about two months ago. And it has gone down. And two simple reasons for that are there fewer arrests. Last year 2475 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET in January of 2002 the arrests were 5103 people who were arraigned. In December, that number was 3672. So that high point we reached in terms of arrests at the beginning of last year and prior to that of 5,000 was like a huge number we'd never seen, has now fallen on average to 4,000 or below in the last -- probably only in the last 3, 4 months. Also, there are a lot of people being released to treatment programs. Last year there were almost 2700 people who were released to go to treatment programs through the forensic intensive recovery program. But it really is the drop in arrests. And Safe Streets has not increased the number of arrest, actually the number of arrests have dropped.
It's a deterrent. And I think that Commissioner Johnson expressed it that way. Their idea was not that they were going to be making more arrests, but they were going to provide a deterrent and drive people out and there would not, in fact, be more arrests, and there are fewer 2476 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET arrest now.
As a matter of fact, I think that they thought that it would be considered a success if the arrests went down because that would indicate that the sellers were not out on the street making sales.
With respect to the Safe Streets program, the fact that we have a deterrent, people are now not openly selling drugs on the targeted drug corners and there's obviously a shift in the focus of drugs, we assume -- or do you think that there are less drugs being sold or do you think they're shifting their method of operation?
I defer to Charlie. He's the one that's out in the districts more than I am.
Let me say this. My thoughts on the matter are that there's probably a shifting of how drugs are sold. I know that the police philosophy in this matter is that by creating a situation where the police are on the streets and the drug sellers can't be in their open air market situations that this, hopefully, will drive the drug traffic out of Philadelphia. I'm not sure that that's what takes place. People are very 2477 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET resourceful and most times people will resort to other methods. I think, however, the police themselves would probably be the best people to see whether or not this has, in fact, led to a drop in the actual sale of drugs in the City of Philadelphia. I mean, you can say, yes, there's been less sales of drugs in Philadelphia because now we're not catching the people because they've gone to a different method of selling the drugs or place to sell the drugs. So I'm not sure that you can really assess the validity of the program.
Have we -- and I don't know if you have this information. I guess the police will probably. Have we seen an increase in drug sales in surrounding counties? I know at one point there were some concerns raised by outlying counties that some of the drug sales were shifting to outlying counties.
You're asking me a question I don't have the answer to. I can't say 2478 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET that I've heard any outside public defenders office calling us and saying "Boy, we got a lot more clients."
I'm not. It's not even a question of breaching it. I just don't know that I can speak on that issue because I haven't heard one way or the other that this program has, in fact, forced the drug sales out of Philadelphia and into the outlying counties. I'm not sure that they have the ability, to be honest with you, to really assess whether or not Safe Streets is, in fact, cutting down on the sales of drugs. I think they can say that perhaps this program has turned the streets back over to the neighborhoods. People might feel safer walking down the street, because I know that that's one of the things that the Mayor has talked about. That may be happening. And there's nothing to say that that's not a valid thing to happen. But I don't know whether they have the ability or whether anybody really has the ability to determine whether this program has actually cut down on the sales or use of drugs in the City of Philadelphia. 2479 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
Just one figure for you, Councilman, which I mentioned earlier when you weren't here. From 2001 to 2002 there was a reduction of 3132 arrests. So that's a fairly substantial drop in that one year.
We've achieved step one, we've got them off the corners. Now we've got to figure out a way to enhance our ability to stop that problem indoors, which we assume that they're -- being as resourceful as they are, we assume that they're probably to some degree --
To be very honest with you, I think the only way that you're really going to be assured of cutting down on drug sales and drug usage is you're going to have to commit yourself to programs. One, teach about the use of drugs to our children when they're in school at a young age. And then commit to programs that are, in fact, going to provide treatment for those who have become afflicted with drug use. Until we are truly committed to that and doing it on a wider basis, then you're going to have drug problems. You're going to have drug sales as long as people want drug 2480 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET sales. The way to clean up the drug problem is to dry up the demand. And we will only dry up the demand by teaching the youth of the country, the youth of this city, about how destructive drugs can be. Once we do that and we then provide treatment for those who have become afflicted with it, I think that's when you're really going to see a drop in drug usage.
Since you're bringing that point up. You're obviously familiar with the Scared Straight Program.
It's my understanding -- and I know you're not in charge of the prison system -- that the ability to have that program in the prisons has been reduced or eliminated. Do you have anything about that?
I have not heard that it has. I don't know. I honestly don't.
I think there were serious questions raised about its efficacy, that it really didn't seem to work.
Yes. And I'm sure there are other problems attached to it as well. 2481 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET
When you say the educational component as it relates to young people and older people not to get involved with drugs, do you have any recommendations as to what strategy we should take?
I know that we have some programs that go out to the schools. We have to take steps and educate our children as to just how destructive drugs can be. I'm fortunate because I have the ability to talk to my sons and to give them specific examples about how destructive it can be. I've had the ability to bring home a picture and show a women at and that same woman at and 15 showed it to my sons and say, "Do you believe that 16 this is the same person?" And they couldn't believe 17 that it was the same person because they thought it 18 was the other person's mother. And I have the 19 ability to talk to my children and give them 20 examples of how destructive it can be. We need to 21 do those things. And we need to go out and we need 22 to -- and it's not a one-time program. It is a 23 persistent program. It is persistence in showing 24 and demonstrating how destructive it can be. 25
Unfortunately, in a 2482 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET lot of areas we don't have the family structure that would provide that type of leadership, so we're left with in too many cases government or some agency taking the responsibility of providing that training and that leadership. And I guess I'm asking you as it relates to government agencies, if there is a shift in the focus in terms of arrests and if there are any cost savings associated with arrests? If you believe drugs are still being sold, should we target that cost savings to programs that would ultimately decrease the demand for drugs as opposed to simply driving it inside and it continuing to destroy lives?
I think we do need to target more of the money. For instance, the District Attorney's Office has money that they get from confiscating and selling property. I think some of that money could be used to be poured into drug programs and to different programs. You know, when you look at Treatment Court, I think Treatment Court is amazing. I think it's amazing for a number of reasons. One of the reasons I think it's amazing is because of George Mosley -- and I don't want to demean the District 2483 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET Attorney herself, but I think George Mosley who was first involved in it from the District Attorney's Office went into this program with the right attitude. And the attitude was to understand that people who have drug addiction are going to have relapses and you can't just say once they have a relapse to lock them up and throw away the key. It is a realization about what it takes to recover from drug addiction. And when you look at the success of Treatment Court, if you're really concerned about resolving the drug problem, you can't help but say to yourself, "Why don't we begin to expand this program? Why don't we begin to look at other programs and understand what it is?" So I think there are things that can be done. There's money that can be obtained by forfeitures from the district Attorney's Office. I'm not saying take everything from them, but I'm saying some of that money may be used for these kinds programs. Why not use some of that money for these types of programs?
Thank you. 2484 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Blondel Reynolds Brown.
You mention in your testimony that there has been a 27 percent increase juvenile crime.
No, not juvenile crime. In social work; in the number of case being handled by our Social Services Unit, not in the number of arrest of juveniles.
Okay. Restate your statement because, clearly, I got it wrong.
I probably wasn't communicating correctly. What I was talking about was the increase in the number of cases on which we're social service referrals. And the Juvenile Social Services Unit, which is a specific unit of about eight social workers, their work increased over the last year by 27 percent. So they were taking 27 percent more referrals and working with the youngsters. 2485 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET There has not been -- I think with the juvenile crime, it's leveled off. The number of arrests have pretty well leveled off, the same as with adults. Not that it's not high; it is high, but there hasn't been sharp spike of the numbers of juveniles arrested.
And what might you contribute the levelling off to, what factors?
I don't know other than there really are fewer arrests being made. And I guess substantially if you were arrest for drug cases, that seems to have cut into that case load.
You mention on of your testimony -- you give some discussion to the Girls Conference.
Can you speak to what the goals or outcomes have been as a result of that initiative, and will it be ongoing?
It will be ongoing. One of the primary reasons for this initiative was that girls who were arrested were staying in custody longer because there were fewer facilities that would accept girls. So that has really, 2486 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET Councilwoman, been the focus of our efforts. And I can't tell you specifically how much more we have opened up in the way of treatment because I didn't i inquire about that. But that has been the focus, to find more treatment options for girls who are arrested so that they do not stay in custody comparatively so much longer than males do.
I think their average stay when we started this two years was like 30 days or 40 days. The boys were not staying anything like that, and it was simply a matter of there not being placement. So we've been working with court administration and dispositional planning unit to enhance that. I can't tell you specifically right today what the results were, but I can certainly find out from Sandra Simpkins who has spearheaded our work and who has written a couple of articles about it.
Yes. You actually 2487 3/12/03 - FY '04 OPERATING BUDGET mention that in your testimony. That particular document, Violence Against Women, is that available through your office?