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Authorizing the City Attorney’s Office to apply for, and if offered, accept, a $340,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to fund one or more salaried positions of the City Attorney’s Office for employees dedicated to prosecution of gone-on-arrival domestic assault cases.
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WHEREAS, the United States Department of Justice is accepting grant solicitations from prosecution offices nationally for awards of up to $340,000, for two-year periods, to fund new and innovative prosecution efforts to reduce violent crime; and
WHEREAS, the City Attorney’s Office seeks to protect public safety by prosecuting violent crimes occurring in St. Paul, including domestic violence cases; and
WHEREAS, perpetrators of domestic violence are often gone from the scenes of their crimes prior to arrival of the police, “gone on arrival cases,” making investigation and successful prosecution of such cases very difficult; and
WHEREAS, domestic assault victims in gone-on-arrival cases are particularly vulnerable to future abuse because their perpetrators are at large and police resources are often focused on cases in which suspects are immediately arrested; and
WHEREAS, the City Attorney’s Office has endeavored to prosecute gone-on-arrival domestic assault cases in the past but the effectiveness of prosecution of such cases has been hampered by staff turnover, heavy caseloads, and competing assignments for those working on gone-on-arrival cases; and
WHEREAS, effective prosecution of gone on arrival domestic violence cases would be significantly increased if one dedicated prosecutor and one part time Victim Witness Coordinator were assigned specifically and solely to gone-on-arrival cases; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Innovative Prosecution Solutions for Combating Violent Crime Grant, if awarded to the City Attorney’s Office, would provide the necessary salary funding for a dedicated prosecutor and Victim Witness Coordinator ...
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