By Bonnie Eslinger
Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: 07/14/2010 07:28:27 PM PDT
Updated: 07/15/2010 12:35:05 AM PDT
A dip in efforts by the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and other law enforcement agencies to prevent sex crimes has heightened the risk of children becoming victims, a new grand jury report says.
About 750 sex offenders are registered in the county, according to the San Mateo County civil grand jury, which cited a study that found half of all convicted sexual predators strike again. And more than three-fourths of sex offenses in the county are committed against children.
"The citizens of San Mateo County, especially children, are at a greater risk of being the victims of sexual offenses because some law enforcement agencies (a) no longer vigorously monitor sexual offenders nor investigate sexual predators to the same degree and (b) no longer coordinate such activities on a countywide basis," the grand jury report concluded.
"We feel there's been an inordinate decrease in resources, considering the challenges posed by sexual offenses," said Bill Blodgett, the grand jury foreman.
Four years ago, the sheriff's office operated several programs that focused on preventing sex-related crimes, such as the county-funded Sexual Habitual Offender Program, or SHOP, and the state-funded Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement, or SAFE, Program task force, according to the grand jury. The office coordinated its efforts with police departments then, and the San Mateo County Probation Department's sex crimes unit monitored offenders on probation.
But at the end of 2006, the state stopped funding the SAFE Program, according to the grand jury. And in the following year, the county quit funding SHOP, resulting in the elimination of two detective positions and absorption of a remaining program sergeant and detective into the investigations bureau of the sheriff's office, where they no longer work on sex crimes full-time. Meanwhile the probation department, itself hit by funding cuts, is expected to fold its sex crimes unit into the general enforcement team, the grand jury reported.
In addition to recommending re-establishment of the SAFE Program task force, the grand jury said the sheriff's office should reinstate its three- to four-person sexual offender investigation unit, including all SHOP activities, regardless of funding.
Sheriff Greg Munks responded quickly to the grand jury report, issuing a statement soon after its release in which he insisted that "fundamental public safety remains the highest priority," but acknowledged that his office is hamstrung by "fiscal constraints."
Munks said in his statement that he immediately faced serious financial concerns related to staffing levels, excessive overtime and law enforcement priorities after he was elected in 2007.
When funding dried up for two sex crime detectives, Munks said he sought support from police chiefs, "but due to their own fiscal limitations, they too were not in a position to add staff to the SHOP unit."
At the height of its operation, the SHOP unit boasted a full-time sergeant and three full-time detectives. Now, sex crime cases are divided among one sergeant and three detectives who are also responsible for other cases, sheriff's office Lt. Ray Lunny said.
Despite funding concerns, a jail planning lieutenant's position was added to the department in 2007, the grand jury report noted.
In his response, Munks stated that with county jails overcrowded and the state threatening to release a large number of inmates into the county's care, building a larger replacement jail had to become "the number one public safety priority."
The grand jury report also pointed out that the number of suspected child sexual abuse and assault exams conducted from cases brought by sheriff's deputies had dropped 50 percent from 2004 to 2009 — or from 35 exams to 16 — while referrals by city police departments remained constant during that same time period.
Lunny told The Daily News the drop corresponded with a decline in referrals from the county's Children and Family Services Office.
The sheriff's office told the grand jury it would cost $930,000 per year to re-establish a SAFE/SHOP task force with a dedicated detective sergeant and two detectives. Lunny said he was not aware of any request headed to the board of supervisors for additional funding.
Blodgett said that even though the county is strapped for cash, sex crimes need to be a higher priority and urged the supervisors to take charge.
"Between the Board of Supervisors and the sheriff, we hope they'll rethink this area and look for creative approaches to restore at least some of the resources that were taken away from the program."
Supervisor Carole Groom said she supports Munks' staffing priorities, adding that while she knows more needs to be done to prevent sex-related offenses and other crimes, the county is limited by its finances.
"Every city and county is working as hard as they can to keep public safety at the highest levels it can, given the restriction on our funding these days," she said. "These are never easy questions to answer."
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15517768?nclick_check=1
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