New Democrat Update - September 1999
MAKING COLORADO SAFER
Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend joined members of the New Democrat Caucus (NDC) to announce a crime-fighting agenda for the next legislative session. For copies of pieces by the Boulder Daily Camera, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post, Denver Rocky Mountain News, or Pueblo Chieftain, e-mail the Colorado DLC.
“Public safety from violent crime is a fundamental responsibility of government and a critical ingredient of our quality of life,” said State Rep. and NDC Chair Bob Hagedorn (D-Aurora). “We must ensure that Colorado's citizens do not have to live in fear in their neighborhoods . While crime rates are dropping steadily, now is no time to declare victory - crime rates remain high by historic standards. New Democrats advocate a tough and smart community-based approach to make our streets safe for law-abiding citizens.”
“We are seeing solid results with these initiatives in Maryland,” said Townsend. “They cut through the paralyzing ideological debates between prevention and punishment and use research-based strategies to identify early warning signs and target the people and places that account for a vastly disproportionate amount of crime. The NDC’s proposals can make Colorado's neighborhoods significantly safer.”
State and local communities will work together to systematically target high-crime neighborhoods with a comprehensive array of “community justice” crime fighting strategies, including community policing and assigning prosecutors and probation officers in neighborhoods rather than by case specialty. State government will provide selected communities with a package of targeted grants, agency resources and technical assistance.
Putting law enforcement officials in neighborhoods - rather than sitting behind a desk downtown - results in higher levels of public safety, less citizen fear and stronger, more productive relationships between residents and the justice system. Once in place, these community justice teams will be held responsible for overall levels of public safety in those neighborhoods, rather than the conventional statistical conviction rates.
Community justice also decreases criticism from neighborhoods, particularly high-crime minority areas, where police-community relations may already be poor. Residents will become motivated to give officers crime tips that they once kept to themselves. Police will not be as anxious to complete the current call so they can address the next one. Feeling better about their jobs, officers experience less frustration and fear, resulting in less brutality.
Community-based “restorative justice" systems are another tool in redressing the damage inflicted by crime. Nonviolent offenders are confronted face-to-face (when appropriate) with the damage they do to their victims. The perpetrators are forced to accept personal responsibility for their acts, make retribution and are monitored before and after their sentences are complete to determine if he or she is prepared for reintegration into the neighborhood. Maybe most important of all, this process reinforces a community's basic values.
The final element of this community-based crime fighting agenda is to overhaul the state's parole and probation system to help break the cycle of recidivism. State Rep. Dan Grossman (D-Denver) wants to increase the frequency of drug testing of probationers and parolees (up to twice-a-week) and implement graduated sanctions to coerce the offender into breaking the habit that often creates the criminal drive.
Grossman said “Too many criminals are in a never-ending cycle of imprisonment, release and re-imprisonment, often as a result of not being able to kick a drug abuse problem. We can break this vicious cycle - which makes our streets unsafe and busts our state corrections budget - by increasing the frequency of drug testing of parolees and probationers and eliminating much of the motivation to re-offend.”
Those who fail the tests will be forced into treatment programs, and if they continue to fail, eventually sent back to prison. This strategy will also serve as an alternative to incarceration for first-time nonviolent, addicted offenders.
Good ideas on public safety are too important to be partisan issues. Governor Owens and Republican legislators should support these proposals.
OWENS BLINKS ON REFORM
During his campaign, Gov. Bill Owens said state government could do as much with less, promising to reduce expenses by five percent. Unfortunately, the bungling of this proposal looks too much like what is wrong with government these days.
Initially, Owens asked for three million dollars to hire a “business transformation” consultant who would implement state-of-the-art management and technological efficiencies. However, nothing is addressed about what kinds of outcomes Colorado should be trying to achieve. It is difficult to get anywhere if you do not know where you are going or in other words, “Management Without Objectives.”
Republicans on the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) objected to the high price tag and sloppy proposal. In addition, the resulting recommendations had to work within “existing state laws - including TABOR and the personnel system.” Three million dollars is a lot of money for producing ideas that will only result in small, incremental changes.
A large majority of state government resources is dedicated to providing services and paying salaries. According to a recent report written by the Governor’s very own policy director when he was with the Center for the New West, reforming Colorado's civil service system is a prerequisite to real change.
Responding to the objections of the JBC, the Governor’s Office made matters worse. Trimming the budget request down to $2.1 million, the project was narrowed to implementing technological improvements. Despite a thoughtful negative recommendation from legislative staff, the JBC approved the revised request.
Management experts emphasize that effective transformation requires redesigning the institutional arrangements in which organizations operate, as well as implementing technology. To be meaningful, state government's purposes, its incentives, its accountability systems, its power structure and its culture must be fundamentally addressed. The changes must be seen by everyone as necessary, desirable and in their own interest.
Owens should discard his narrowly focused strategy, drop the consultant and start building the critical political support in the legislature and among the general public it will take to transform state government. Just as important, he should go to the people who know government best - experienced state employees willing to take risks and implement innovative solutions if given the chance. They know what works, what wont and where the skeletons are buried.
To get it started, the Governor should direct Lt. Gov. Joe Rogers to organize a team of employees from all corners of state government. These “Innovation Teams” should examine individual agencies, evaluate crosscutting systems like budgeting, procurement and personnel, and lead transformations at their departments. At every opportunity, Rogers should speak with state employees, business leaders and Coloradans to seek their ideas, input and inspiration.
After a year, Rogers should report to the governor and legislature their findings, detailing the following - cost savings, personnel reductions and the systematic reforms needed for the state's procurement, human resource and budgetary systems. The report should also detail what executive actions the Governor will take and any legislative and constitutional changes.
Owens should get off his current path and implement true reform. Otherwise, it's government as usual - another expensive report sitting on the shelf.