Division of Criminal Justice Services

Welcome to eFocus, an electronic newsletter produced by the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Office of Probation andCorrectional Alternatives (OPCA). OPCA publishes this newsletter to further its goal of promoting public safety through probation services and other community corrections programs.We welcome your suggestions.
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eFocus, Issue Number 110, November 2, 2012
New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services
Office of Probation and Correctional Alternatives
Robert M. Maccarone, Deputy Commissioner and Director
Nicole A. Aldi, Editor
http://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/opca

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In this Issue:

1. New Probation Supervision Rule Advances
2. Juvenile Interstate Data System Launches
3. Intrastate Family Court Transfers-Chapter 470 of the Laws of 2012
4. SAVIN-NY
5. County Reentry Task Force Webinars
6. Recent State Director’s Memoranda
7. Additional Training, Awards, Events and News
8. Quick Facts

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1. New Probation Supervision Rule Advances– On October 18, 2012, Deputy Commissioner and Director Robert Maccarone advised Probation Directors/Commissioners that DCJS has filed notice with the New York State Department of State to repeal 9 NYCRR Part 351 and add the new Part 351. The revised rule will take effect on June 1, 2013, and will change and streamline supervision procedures in New York State to promote best probation professional practices, afford additional flexibility to departments to reallocate resources to higher risk cases, and significantly increase discretion to line probation officers. Importantly, it will continue the maintenance of minimum supervisory standards throughout the state to ensure similar offender treatment in key aspects of delivery of probation services. The new rule reflects nearly three years of collaborative work on the part of probation directors and officers throughout New York State. OPCA will continue its series of training events highlighting different aspects of the rule in advance of its’ effective date.

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2. Juvenile Interstate Data System Launches - The Juvenile Interstate Data System (JIDS) will launch at 8:00am EST on Monday, November 5, 2012. The JIDS is a national electronic system that will expedite the facilitation of state-to-state transfers, returns, and travel for juveniles. In preparation for launch and following the implementation of the JIDS, Live Meetings are being offered by both DCJS/OPCA and the Interstate Commission for Juveniles (ICJ) National Office. Such training opportunities have been, and will
continue to be e-mailed to Transfer Designees in addition to local Directors and Commissioners. Please encourage all applicable staff to attend these trainings or, if not able to attend a live session, view the recording(s) at your earliest convenience. Training materials, including FAQs, “How To” Guides, User Manuals, and Video Tutorials are also available
24/7 for all users on the Helpdesk at https://support.juvenilecompact.org. If you have any questions about the JIDS, please contact Shaina Kern at Shaina.Kern@dcjs.ny.gov, (518) 485-5166 or Kelly Palmateer at Kelly.Palmateer@dcjs.ny.gov or (518) 485-2398.

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3. Intrastate Family Court Transfers-Chapter 470 of the Laws of 2012 - On October 3, 2012, Chapter 470 of the Laws of 2012, amended several sections of the Family Court Act in relation to the intrastate transfer of probation. Specifically, this legislation requires a family court to transfer probation to the county of residence when a youth adjudicated a juvenile delinquent (JD) or person in need of supervision (PINS) either resides in a different county at the time probation is imposed or thereafter relocates. The family court may transfer probation supervision of a non-JD and non-PINS probationer who resides in another jurisdiction within the state at the time of court disposition or if he/she subsequently relocates. This legislation specifies that where intrastate transfers have been approved in JD and PINS cases, the receiving court shall hear any proceedings to enforce or modify the order of probation, including a violation of probation which may have occurred in another county, unless such court determines that there is good cause to return the proceeding to the sending court for adjudication. For non-JD and non-PINS cases, it recognizes that a lawful family court order may be enforced or modified in the applicable county or in any other county in which the party affected by the order resides or is found. Further, if an act or omission which constitutes a violation of probation occurs in other than the original county where the probation order was made, either family court may hear the allegation of the violation and proceed accordingly. For more information, please refer to State Directors Memorandum 2012-18 or contact Patti Donohue at Patricia.Donohue@dcjs.ny.gov or (518) 485-5168.

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4. SAVIN-NY - On Tuesday October 23, 2012, the New York State Sheriffs’ Association Institute announced the availability of SAVIN-NY, a free system that allows individuals who have been granted orders of protection by Family Courts outside of New York City to register to receive alerts when those orders are served. The Institute worked with the Deputy Secretary for Public Safety’s office and partnered with several state agencies – including the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Office of Victim Services – to implement the program, allowing victims of domestic violence and other crimes to register with NY-ALERT (www.nyalert.gov) to receive notifications 24 hours a day, seven days week. Alerts can be received via text message, e-mail, fax, automated phone call or web query.

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5. County Reentry Task Force Webinars - OPCA will be hosting two Webinars intended for County Reentry Task Force (CRTF) Coordinators, County and DOCCS Co-chairs as well as CRTF finance representatives. The Webinars are as follows: November 14, 2012 - 10:30am – 12:00 Noon. “CRTF Performance Based Contract Vouchering and Reporting” and on November 29, 2012 from 1:00pm – 3:00pm the focus will be “Broome County CRTF Best Practices” – Insight and Suggestions to Making the Process Work from Start to Finish. These are the first of a series of quarterly Webinar provided by OPCA to inform and highlight the many “best practices” occurring across NYS by the County Reentry Task Forces. Please contact Margaret Chretien at Margaret.Chretien@dcjs.ny.gov or (518) 485-2494 for additional information.

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6. Recent State Director’s Memoranda

State Director’s Memoranda are sent out to address changes in policy, procedure, and law affecting probation practice and programs in community corrections alternatives to incarceration. The links to the State Director’s Memoranda distributed in the months of July and August are below. We encourage probation officers to review all State Director’s Memoranda, and recommend that they be utilized as training opportunities provided within probation departments.

October 2012

2012-18 - “Chapter 470 of the Laws of 2012 – Effective October 3, 2012 – Family Court Intrastate Transfers”
Attachment 1 – Revised Form 16
Attachment 2 – Revised Form 16A
Attachment 3 – Chapter Law and Legislative Memorandum In Support

2012-17 – Notice of Adoption – Repeal of 9 NYCRR Part 351 and Addition of new Part 351 Effective June 1, 2013 Attachment - Rule Text
To view the attachments please log into eJUSTICE and click on Reference Materials under Probation Services.

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7. Additional Training, Awards, Events and News

~ Due to the impact of Hurricane Sandy, OPCA has requested and received a temporary suspension of all adult and juvenile interstate transfers coming into the New York City and Long Island areas. Both the Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision (ICAOS) and the Interstate Commission for Juveniles (ICJ) sent immediate “Emergency Notifications” to all compact states instructing them to halt any interstate transfer applications that have an address listed in the New York, Bronx, Kings, Queens, Richmond, Nassau or Suffolk county areas. Also, all Directors and Intrastate Designees were informed to temporarily suspend any INTRAstate transfers into the above areas. If you have any questions, please contact Matthew Charton at Matthew.Charton@dcjs.ny.gov or (518) 485-2402.

~ On October 30, 2012, Northpointe conducted the first online training session for Probation and ATI Super Users on COMPAS version 8. This training, demonstrating the differences between COMPAS version 7 and COMPAS version 8 is being repeated by Northpointe on three additional dates (November 1, 2012 and November 8, 2012 AM and PM sessions). A recording of one of these training sessions will also be posted in the eJustice Probation Services in the near future. OPCA staff will also be offering an online orientation on COMPAS 8 to all users of the application in the coming weeks. Additional information on those sessions will be forthcoming very soon. Importantly, a cadre of OPCA staff members will soon be certified as COMPAS trainers to serve the needs of probation officers and ATI personnel across the state. This certification will include the ability to train on the COMPAS women’s assessment. New York State is expected to go live with COMPAS version 8 in mid-December 2012. For additional information on the transition to COMPAS version 8, please contact Gary Govel at Gary.Govel@dcjs.ny.gov or (518) 457-4336.

~ OPCA has received a Justice and Mental Health Collaboration grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance. The award is a $250,000 implementation grant for a total of 24 months including a six month planning period. Planning is underway to utilize the award to implement the most effective and up-to date strategies for the community supervision of individuals with serious mental illness.

~ OPCA is pleased to have been able to provide six regional two day Motivational Interviewing trainings over the past six months. The trainings were provided by David A. Varalli, who is a veteran Senior United States Probation Officer for the Western District of New York and has worked in the pretrial, pre-sentence and post-sentence units. He is currently an Intensive Supervision Specialist and supervises sex offenders, confidential informants, and other high profile cases. All six trainings were well attended and well evaluated with a total of 118 probation staff trained as follows.

~ OPCA is pleased to announce that Interstate Unit representative Shaina Kern attended this year’s Juvenile ABM in Kansas City Missouri October 15, 2012-October 17, 2012. Some of the topics included: Proposed Rule Amendments, the future implementation of the Juvenile Interstate Data System (JIDS), and various other training topics. Representation at the Juvenile ABM is important as DCJS/OPCA managed 383 juvenile probation interstate transfers for fiscal year 2012 and is required to comply with the Compact rules which are federally mandated. NYS Probation presence ensures that DCJS/OPCA stay informed and current on all that is occurring with the enforcement provisions of the Compact and be able to support essential Compact operations. For more information regarding 2012 ICJ Rule Amendments or the implementation of JIDS, please contact Shaina Kern at Shaina.Kern@dcjs.ny.gov or (518) 485-5166.

~ “Breaking the Cycle of Recidivism”: Successfully Transitioning Young People from Juvenile Delinquency Placements, A Statewide Summit on Juvenile Reentry will be held Friday, December 14, 2012 9:30 am – 3:30 pm University at Albany (Downtown Campus) Register for this event at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NYSJuvenileRentrySummit. For additional information please contact Phillipe Cadet at Phillipe.Cadet@dcjs.ny.gov or (518) 457-3670.

~ The New York State Police Academy will host its 7th annual “Child Physical Abuse & Neglect” Seminar November 13, 2012-November 16, 2012, for law enforcement, social service agencies, prosecutors, and victim advocates who work in New York State. This training is provided at no cost to attendees. Topics to be presented include: child homicide investigation, child abuse and domestic violence, and courtroom testimony among others. For more information please visit http://www.troopers.ny.gov/Criminal_Investigation/Child_Abuse/Child_Abuse_Seminar/

~ “In Harm’s Way”, Law Enforcement Suicide Prevention Conference November 7, 2012-November 8, 2012; Presented by Florida Regional Community Policing Institute at St. Petersburg College Bureau of Justice Assistance, U. S. Department of Justice. There is a brutal truth in law enforcement…that an officer is more likely to be a victim of suicide than a homicide. More officers die from suicide than from line-of-duty deaths, yet little is being done to address this highly preventable loss. To register online for this conference, go to: http://cop.spcollege.edu/Registration.htm. Registration deadline is October 31, 2012. For more information about the conference, please contact Laura Heisler at Heisler.Laura@spcollege.edu or (727) 341-4437.

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8. Quick Facts: At the end of December 2011, 42 county probation departments were utilizing Caseload Explorer to support the local probation function. Thirty-nine counties have
integrated Caseload Explorer with the Integrated-Probation Registrant System (I-PRS) and 36 counties are integrated with YASI assessments.

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eFocus is the property of the Office of Probation and Correctional Alternatives. Articles may be reprinted with attribution to the Office. For more information on any of the topics mentioned above, to report any difficulties you may have experienced receiving this email, or, if you have information you would like posted in the next issue of OPCA's eFocus, please contact Nicole Aldi at (518) 485-8457 or Nicole.Aldi@dcjs.ny.gov.

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The eFocus is now distributed to thousands of community corrections professionals across New York State. You may receive more than one copy if your name and email address appear on different criminal justice and community corrections mailing lists. If so, please e-mail Nicole Aldi the name you would like removed from distribution.

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