Report 2013-103 Recommendation 30 Responses

Report 2013-103: Armed Persons With Mental Illness: Insufficient Outreach From the Department of Justice and Poor Reporting From Superior Courts Limit the Identification of Armed Persons With Mental Illness (Release Date: October 2013)

Recommendation #30 To: Justice, Department of

To ensure that mental health determinations reported to its criminal information unit are quickly available for review, Justice should assess whether the criminal information unit can prioritize the entry of reports regarding mental health determinations without a negative effect on the entry of all other criminal information into its system.

6-Month Agency Response

Effective January 1, 2014, the Departments Bureau of Criminal Information and Analysis Unit began utilizing Office Assistant General staff to scan paper dispositions and to pull documents remarkable for Penal Code sections 1026, 1368, 1370 and 1370.1, as well as Welfare and Institutions Code section 8103 to prioritize handling and update to the Automated Criminal History System (ACHS).

Procedures were developed and instituted for Office Assistant General staff to use when scanning for the Code sections specified above as they review dispositions received on paper and those that were submitted electronically, but fell out of the ACHS update process due to error.

When one of the specified Code sections is identified, the disposition is removed from the normal workflow and updated to the ACHS in an expedite process within two to three business days.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

Justice's procedures direct its criminal information unit's staff to prioritize the entry of reports regarding mental health determinations.

60-Day Agency Response

The Department's Bureau of Criminal Information and Analysis (BCIA) has assessed the personnel and operating resources needed to scan about 560,000 paper dispositions to pull documents remarkable for Penal Code sections 1026, 1368, 1370 and 1370.1, as well as Welfare and Institutions Code section 8103. The code section notations may be in various places on the paper dispositions and also may be designated by a box checked or in narrative form. Once identified these paper dispositions would have to be labeled for expedited update to the Automated Criminal History System. The BCIA is reclassifying a Program Technician position to an Office Assistant - General position to enable this additional scanning function of paper dispositions received by the DOJ. It is anticipated this function will begin January 1, 2014.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented

All Recommendations in 2013-103

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.