[Solano County] Juvenile detention facilities chief agrees with grand jury assessment

FAIRFIELD — Solano County juvenile detention officials have already addressed some of the issues the 2015-16 grand jury identified in its report, but said others may take more time.

“We certainly agree with the needs and are working with the (Probation) chief and (county) General Services,” said Dean Farrah, who took over as superintendent of the juvenile detention facilities in March, after the grand jury’s review.

Farrah said some of the general maintenance such as painting and upgrading furniture as been done. He has asked for clarification on what the grand jury meant about upgrading the lighting.

However, the recommendations involving the upgrades of the monitoring and intercom systems are bigger-ticket items that must be prioritized through the budget process, Farrah said.

“Control room staff has the responsibility to monitor all movements in the facility, opening all of the doors and monitoring cameras throughout the facility. There are currently 128 cameras located throughout the complex,” the grand jury report states.

“Watching all of the cameras at the same time is difficult due to the limited number of monitors,” the report states. “Staff indicated a control panel monitor system upgrade, called a ‘call-up button,’ could be added to the current control panel to assist the Control Room staff in the event of an emergency.”

Such a call-up button upgrade would help to identify camera locations, assist with doors that need to be opened and quickly identify people coming in or going out of the facility, the report notes.

Farrah does not disagree. He said upgrading technology will help at the detention facility, but with it or without it, the staff is charged with the same mission of operating a safe and secure facility.

“So while there are improvements that can be made . . . I would not say we have a safety or security issue,” Farrah said.

He said the same is true with regard to the recommendation to upgrade the intercom system. Doing that would likely improve efficiencies, but the staff does use hand radios as well as the intercom to communicate throughout the facility.

“When you talk about the larger systems, the costs go up,” Farrah said.

June 12, 2016

Daily Republic

By Todd R. Hansen