Memo supports mobile community court pilot ahead of $1.5M budget request
Tuesday, April 2, 2024 by
Chad Swiatecki A pilot program to make the Downtown Austin Community Court more accessible to those needing help clearing up misdemeanor offenses and receiving social services has been ruled a success, with organizers pushing to make the expansion permanent.
A memo released last week from the DACC court administrator Robert Kingham recommends the city move forward with the creation of a fully staffed mobile DACC program. The memo also calls for finding ways to scale the program through more engagement with clients, evaluating what other services could be offered and making investments in transportation and technology resources.
City Council directed staff to create the pilot program in 2023 in part because of the success of similar efforts in other cities. The DACC’s main mission is to act as a justice diversion mechanism that resolves low-level offenses for those experiencing homelessness, mental illness, substance abuse or poverty.
At a meeting last month, the DACC advisory board supported asking the city for $1.56 million in the 2024-25 budget. Of that, $254,178 of ongoing funding would fund a fully operational mobile community court program. The advisory board also forecasted an ongoing need for $2.1 million beginning in the 2026-27 fiscal year.
The memo, which includes an evaluation of the pilot program by Sultan Justice Consulting Corp., notes the mobile court operated on 18 dates from October 2023 through early February, with services available at 10 locations such as homeless service centers, libraries and churches. Engagement increased as awareness of the pilot program spread among populations who could utilize the services, with 383 people receiving court case checks, 125 of which had one or more open court cases.
Among those, 35 clients participated in a mobile court hearing, with 69 cases docketed and 48 warrants cleared.
The end result of addressing minor offenses among distressed populations is seen as a net positive move for the city financially because of the reduction in police and court time, and clearing some legal obstacles for those seeking housing or employment that can help stabilize their lives.
The memo notes that the pilot program required court staff and stakeholders from other involved groups to perform extra duties to carry out the offering of services at mobile sites, which wasn’t seen as sustainable over the long term.
Kingham, who was scheduled to make a presentation to the Public Safety Commission on Monday, told the Austin Monitor that the DACC advisory board’s budget request would fund the staff and other resources needed without overextending the court’s existing operations.
He said the goal of meeting “people where they were” made needed services much more available throughout the city.
“Looking at our population that we generally serve, that’s one of the reasons we identified locations where individuals experiencing homelessness were already receiving services,” he said. “The data reflected in a third-party analysis showed that individuals did not address their open court case with us previously because they didn’t have an idea that they had an open case with us. And it speaks to some of the issues that individuals are experiencing when they have been cited for one of the violations that are heard at our court.”
Kingham said the high level of satisfaction from those served during the pilot program – and its increase in usage as word spread – suggests a mobile DACC presence would become more effective if it were a permanent offering.
“One hundred percent of the individuals who went through this program were satisfied with the services that they received,” he said. “They’re able to help amplify the message that we are there to help, that we’re there to assist them, navigate their court process and resolve as their court case – and also, if needed, connect them with services that will address the underlying root causes of their initial justice involvement.”
This story has been corrected to clarify that $254,178 of the budget request would fund the DACC Mobile Court, not the entire $1.56 million.
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