After being awarded a federal grant in October following last summer’s pilot program, the Beach Area Community Court is scheduled to begin within the next few months.
“We were the only city area selected in the state of the California,” said Angie Reddish-Day, head deputy city attorney. “There were over 100 cities across the United States which applied for the 10 federal grants available. Our grant is for $200,000.”
The areas to be served by the grant are Pacific Beach, Mission Beach and Mission Bay Park.
According to Reddish-Day, the Beach Area Community Court will serve as an alternative for individuals who have been cited by police for certain violations which normally would be filed in San Diego Superior Court.
“The type of citations which could be handled by the Community Court are what we call ‘quality of life’ offenses like open containers, urinating in public and alcohol related situations,” she said. “When someone is cited by a police officer, the officer will give them a piece of paper which essentially gives the person two options. They can appear in Superior Court and plead guilty or not guilty or they can choose Community Court.”
The cited individual, should they choose Community Court, will then have to complete a three-step program that can be completed in one or two days.
The first step is to appear before an Impact Panel, which is made up of residents, law enforcement officials, health practitioners and business owners.
“The goal of the Impact Panel is to educate the offenders on what their behavior does to the community, both residential and business related, law enforcement and their own bodies,” Reddish-Day said.
The second step is for the offender to fill out a self-assessment form, which is evaluated by a health practitioner and allow the person to decide if they might have an alcohol or drug related problem.
“We anticipate having young people who don’t think they have a drinking problem but do, realize so when they complete the form,” she noted.
The final step is to do community service work.
“Their work will be done in the areas covered by the Community Court,” Reddish-Day said. “They won’t be out on the freeways picking up trash. The goal is for them to help do something for the area where they caused the problems.”
Upon successful completion of the Community Court, the offender, while not having the citation wiped clean from their record, will instead save themselves a visit to Superior Court which can sometimes lead to more time and expense depending on how they choose to plead.
Deputy City Attorney Regan Savalla will oversee the Beach Area Community Court once it is underway.
“One of my major roles is to be continually engaged in the community, getting volunteers, soliciting input from people on what they would like to see happen with court,” she said. “I will also be facilitating the Impact Panel.”
In addition, Savalla will also be the liaison with the police department and the Community Court.
Both Reddish-Day and Savalla stressed the importance and need for help with the all-volunteer operation. Up to this point there have been regular planning meetings but once there are enough volunteers an advisory board will replace those meetings. Both the advisory board and Impact Panel need residents and business owners to volunteer.
The next scheduled planning meeting is Thursday, March 2 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Santa Clara Recreation Center. People interested on serving on either the advisory board or Impact Panel are encouraged to attend. For more information, call Reddish-Day or Savalla at (619) 533-5500.