Texas counties could lose criminal justice grants

A new mandate that counties must comply with state disposition-reporting could mean a decrease in grant funding for 75 percent of Texas counties.

The Criminal Justice Division of the governor’s office sent an email in December notifying counties they must comply with a statute requiring a 90 percent disposition reporting rate by Aug. 1 to continue receiving future grants from the division.

The state disposition report contains data on all cases that are disposed in a given county, compiled throughout the state. A case is not reported until a final judgment is issued through the court system.

The division doles out state and federal grants to counties to “encourage innovative solutions and provide for local control,” according to its website.

Donald Lee, the executive director of the Texas Conference of Urban Counties, said the statistics are misleading and even prevent most counties from reaching the goal.

“You can never get to 100 percent in the most recent years because 100 percent is all arrests reporting disposition,” he said. “If you don’t dispose of a case (in court), even for good reason, you didn’t report the disposition.”

Many of the most serious crimes in Ector County, such as capital murders and sexual assaults, can take up to three years or longer before they go to trial, and Lee said such cases would count against a county.

Because of this, the TCUC, Texas Association of Counties, County Judges Association, Texas Association of Regional Counsels of Government, Texas District and County Attorneys Association, Department of Public Safety and CJD have come together to discuss what could make the process better and help counties reach attainable reporting goals.

“We are really encouraged in the governor’s office approach to improving it,” Lee said. “I wouldn’t say it has been a fight. The governor’s office has been very receptive to the issues counties have been addressing.”

But that’s not the only problem counties are having.

Ector County Judge Susan Redford said technical issues with the state’s reporting system have kept Ector County limited to the 84 percent it has reported from 2006 to 2010.

“The (Criminal Justice Information System) is overwhelmed and not accepting a lot of the reports at this time due to technical difficulties,” she said.

Lee acknowledged this and said there are more than just a few issues across the state and the important thing is to fix what can be fixed.

“This is a situation where every county that has a low number is going to have its own set of reasons,” Lee said. “It could be something like the district clerk retires and a new one comes in, is not familiar with the process of getting the data in. There could be any number of reasons; some of them good reasons, some of them bad reasons.”

Redford said if the county’s funding was pulled, it would be bad but not devastating.

Randy Ragsdale, an internal auditor at Ector County, said the only CJD grant the county has received recently has been one for the Ector County District Attorney’s Office worth about $41,000 each year for the last three years. If the governor’s office were to keep the mandate, Redford said she is confident the county could comply, although it would be made easier if the technical difficulties were fixed.

Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman with the governor’s office, said in an email that the CJD is in discussions with the many different groups in trying to make the reporting work.

“All involved parties are looking for the most efficient and effective way to bring the counties into compliance, including addressing some technical issues with the DPS reporting system that might make it easier for the counties to come into compliance and ensure the data that’s entered is useful and accurate,” she said.

Christopher Burnett, director of the CJD, said the state would provide financial assistance to counties that need it to become compliant, but Nashed said only two counties have requested such help, Travis and Webb counties.