Safe and Secure Communities

Community Supervision Success Rate - Performance Measure 1.17

The City of Tempe promotes safe and secure communities by providing individuals the opportunity to successfully complete a diversion or probation program with Community Supervision. Community Supervision aims to connect individuals with misdemeanor offenses to appropriate education, treatment, and/or resources to increase the likelihood of successful completion and remaining crime free while in the program.

Measure

Achieve participant completion rates that are greater than or equal to a) the rate of Pinal County's diversion program and b) the rate of 60% for the supervised probation program.

Why this Measure Matters

The success rate is determined based on the percentage of clients successfully completing all three Community Supervision programs: Adult Diversion, Title IX Deferred Prosecution, and Supervised Probation. The target for Supervised Probation comes internally from Tempe Community Supervision as the Benchmark Source, Pinal County Diversion, does not offer a Supervised Probation program for misdemeanor level offenders.

Adult Diversion is a pre-plea agreement that if the defendant completes terms the charge will be dismissed.
Title IX Deferred Prosecution is a post-plea, pre-sentencing agreement which if the defendant completes terms the charge will be dismissed
Supervised Probation is a post-sentencing agreement to probation terms which includes oversight from Community Supervision

Successful completion of these programs includes: completing an intake by Community Supervision staff utilizing a validated risk/needs assessment; completing requirements assigned; ongoing reporting to Community Supervision staff and paying all fines, fees and/or restitution. Assigned requirements may include community service, counseling, and/or classes for domestic violence, alcohol use, cognitive skills, anger management, etc.

Increasing successful completion and safety rates furthers the City priority of Safe and Secure Communities. Participants in Community Supervision programs are connected with evidenced based treatment programs to address domestic violence, substance abuse, anger management, and other antisocial behaviors. Participants are also connected with personal improvement opportunities (parenting classes, financial counseling classes, support groups, etc.) which research has identified as protective factors against continued criminal activity and/or recidivism. By connecting individuals with both evidenced based interventions and known protective factors, participants will develop the skills and abilities to improve their quality of life and prevent further criminal behavior, as well as remain positive and contributing members of the community. This measure tracks successful completion rates and for individuals who have completed a Diversion, Deferred Prosecution, or Misdemeanor Supervised Probation program with the City of Tempe and also tracks individuals who remain crime free while participating with Community Supervision.

Pinal County’s Misdemeanor Diversion Program was selected for comparison to Tempe’s program because similar to Tempe, the Pinal County Attorney’s Office defers prosecution in cases where low risk defendants, who have been charged with non-violent crimes, participate in the Adult Diversion Program. Both programs involve having in house staff complete standardize risk-assessments, determine requirements, make referrals to appropriate treatment based on the outcome of the risk assessment, and provide ongoing monitoring of the client.

To locate the benchmark program statistics please go to: APAAC Resources (az.gov) then select “Deferred Prosecution Reports”. Click to open the most recent year folder and click to open the PDF for Pinal County

Baseline

Diversion Program: 80.1% (FY 2022/23)

Supervised Probation Program: 58.1% (FY 2022/23)

Target

Diversion Program: 86% by FY 2029/30

Supervised Probation Program: 60% by FY 2029/30

Strategies

1. Improve Outcomes for Program Participants:

Maintain and optimize case load distribution by achieving 160-180 cases per counselor on a rolling monthly average.
Continue to offer the option to participate in the incentives program to 100% of clients.
Maintain a standard of scheduling client intake appointments within a maximum of 30 business days.

2. Continued Staff Training and Development:

Maintain 100% staff training level in the delivery and scoring of the Offender Screening Tool (OST) annually.
Maintain inter-rater reliability through biannual continuing education and supervision trainings as verified though continuously updated training logs.
Ensure all staff complete 3 hours of trainings that improve service delivery and outcomes for clients each year. Trainings can include: Promising Practices in Pre-Trial Services and Probation, Trauma-Informed Care, and Motivational Interviewing.

3. Technological Improvements:

Case Management System
- Seek CIP resources to fund the design and implementation of a new Case Management system specific to Community Supervision programming by July 1, 2024.
- Design and implement new Case Management system by June 30, 2024.

4. Quality Assurance:

Send quarterly surveys to capture program satisfaction, participation in the Incentives program and evaluate the intake process with the goal of achieving an overall satisfaction rate of 75%
Ensure program continues to meet the needs of the court and prosecutor by conferring with them twice yearly to discuss programming components and processes with the goal of continuous case flow improvement, higher satisfaction with reports submitted and overall better program management.