By The Record -
The outgoing San Joaquin County grand jury is to be commended for drilling down on the subjects it tackled, from how Stockton got into bankruptcy to group homes.
Its reports revealed a depth of understanding and an eye for detail lacking in reports of many past juries. Reports in previous years often were so amateurish that responding agencies knew they could get away with a the-jury's-recommendation-is-being-addressed response. That really meant the jury's recommendations were being ignored.
The county's 2012-13 panel was different. Their reports in most cases indicated they asked questions not only until they got answers but also until they understood. Especially outstanding was their analysis of how group homes operate in the county. State officials, for example, started doing their job only after jurors kept pestering them for information (although it's not clear they'll keep doing their job).
The jurors' work and recommendations deserve a serious consideration by the agencies and those running the programs they studied. One suggestion we'd make is that the incoming grand jury, impaneled Monday, not be bashful about following up on the investigations their predecessors undertook.
Such follow-up would not only be a tip of the hat to those who came before but also a clear signal to those previously investigated that the grand jury reports cannot be viewed as just a nuisance to be ignored.
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