Adoption of sound business practices and running the City based on data and accountability have been top priorities of our administration. RockStat embodies our effort to do just that. It has helped us streamline our departments, align our strategies, and hold ourselves accountable for improvement. The system of accountability we have put in place has resulted in improvement throughout the organization including snow plowing, pothole fixing, policing, fire prevention, property standards and code enforcement, and a more effective way of paying for road improvements. While we still have a long way to go, I am proud of the progress we are making.
Over the past two years, as we have done our part to improve our operations at the City, I have called on our partner agencies to do the same. The good news is that we have great examples where our partnership and accountability efforts are paying off; but we can and must do more. In the criminal justice arena, that's why, starting with my State of the City Address in 2007 and then again in 2008, I called for better alignment and accountability with our criminal justice partners.
In the State of the City Address in March of 2008 I stated that:
[T]he criminal justice system must be improved at all levels: city, county, state's attorney, law enforcement, probation, and the judiciary. To make sure we are all improving, the County has completed an analysis identifying many gaps in our justice system. To fill the gaps and ensure improvement, we must measure performance, have rigorous follow-up, and transparent reporting. In 2008, we must challenge our justice partners to use that study to create better accountability and better management systems. Like Churchill said, it's about looking at past strategies and honestly assessing results. Where results are lacking, new strategies must be deployed.Following up on those State of the City Addresses, we invited county partners in private meetings to work with us at the City in a coordinated, data-driven analysis to improve our justice system. We call that approach, "Justice Stat." We recently presented formal data to our City Council at our Council Retreat providing detailed justification for such a system. I am writing to share with you some of that data as well as some of the responses we have received from some of the judiciary and media.
First, basic data demonstrates the need for better focus on the numbers. Since 1990, our local judges have sent far fewer convicted felons to jail than just about any other community in the State of Illinois. The following chart shows incarceration rates for felons in several major Illinois counties since 2001:
Winnebago has the lowest numbers for sending convicted felons to jail and lags far behind other areas of the State. Simply put, we are pushing for stiffer sentences for convicted felons as part of our overall effort to improve public safety. This has been the approach in Chicago where they have also pushed transformation and tougher standards in public housing. We need to match that approach in Rockford which will mean justice for victims as we get criminals off our streets and we send a message to criminals that Rockford is no longer going to be "easy" to prey upon. Unfortunately, the Rockford Register Star seems to disagree.
In their December 21 editorial, the paper accuses my administration of having 'bad data, a bad premise, and bad manners.' (Click here to see the entire editorial.) I would like to take a moment to respond to this editorial as these are important questions for our community to resolve.
First, as to "bad facts", the paper is wrong; our facts our correct. We pulled our data from the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. We acknowledged that one year, 1999, seemed to have corrupted data but that did not change the overall numbers or bottom line which is that Winnebago County has been more lenient on convicted felons by a huge margin for years! In fact, the Editorial Board doesn't seriously attempt to disagree with the fact that local incarceration rates for felons is low, they simply seem to point to some justification for not sending the majority of felons to jail, which brings us to their second argument.
As to the "bad premise" argument, clearly the Editorial Board disagrees with an approach of getting tough on criminals who commit felonies. They can have this opinion, but I don't think victims of crime will agree with them. Unfortunately, they seem more concerned about criminals than victims. Our police officers get tired of arresting the same people who wind up back on our streets. The Editorial Board seems to miss the point that when cities get tough on criminals, the criminal element will go to other cities! (See, for instance, news coverage of the 2006 Report of the Chicago Crime Commission detailing the migration of gang crime from Chicago to suburban areas. (Click here for a link to a re-print of the Chicago Tribune Article on this topic.)
Finally, the Register Star Editorial Board argues that I have exhibited "bad manners" apparently by "surprising" county officials with this material and making this data public. The editorial questions, "What's the point of his numbers, other than to take potshots?" Firstly, how can any organization improve without running itself by numbers as opposed to anecdote? Secondly, the Editorial Board is incorrect in concluding that there was any surprise.
I have regularly met with the County Board Chairman since I was elected and for at least two years we have discussed the need for greater accountability in our justice system in the form of something like Justice Stat. Our City Legal Director, Pat Hayes, met and discussed this material with County elected officials including the County Board Chair when he was pursuing the nomination for the open State's Attorney position. Mr. Hayes also met personally with the Chief Judge Holmgren prior to our City Council Retreat and went through these materials. The fact is, there was no surprise and how could there be when they are their numbers over which we had had numerous discussions. While there was no surprise, there certainly was displeasure with making these numbers public and that seems to be the real source of the "bad manners" argument.
The real irony here is that in the past the Register Star has repeatedly called for greater transparency when it comes to public information. For some reason here, however, the Editorial Board seems to prefer that data be concealed or ignored as irrelevant when it comes to the performance of our judiciary. This is particularly surprising to me when I see the fine work that their reporters are doing covering the City's efforts to fight crime by using and publishing data on where crime occurs. (Click here for link to Register Star story on the City's data driven crime analysis.)
Unfortunately, the implied threat seems to be that we should not dare question the judiciary or its sentencing habits. That is simply crazy. Why should it be okay to question police officers, the mayor, the Police Chief, and others but not question the effectiveness of judges? In fact, the entire question of "bad manners" really appears to be an effort to divert the community's attention from the bottom line. But it doesn't really matter how we came to find out that our system is broke; if it's broke, let's fix it! Here are some additional thoughts on how to start.
There is a lot of data that can be studied about our judicial system. I have pushed this issue since I was appointed by former County Board Chair, Kris Cohn, to be part of a 2001-2002 citizen-based Criminal Justice Steering Committee. Back then, the question was what to do about jail overcrowding and, in addition to the idea of building a new jail, we knew we needed to improve the management and efficiency of the system. As a result of those past efforts, we've built a big new jail and the County is spending some $7 million to upgrade technology and improve some of their systems. To manage such a system, however, requires more than just computers, it requires the examination of the data with a goal of improvement. That's where there seems to be resistance and why we will continue to push this issue.
For starters, I have asked the County Board Chair, who hires the trial courts administrator, to simply provide and publish ongoing data on three areas: 1) our rate of incarceration of felons; 2) our rate of recidivism (repeat offenders); and 3) our rate of moving cases (how long does it take for a case to close through trial or plea/settlement in both civil and criminal courts. These are all fair questions and the public has a right to know the answers and we should benefit by holding ourselves accountable for the results. Let's continuously publish these numbers and engage in an open and frank discussion on how to improve them.
We have said all along that this is only one part of the solution to lowering crime and creating a safer community, but it's an important part. I am asking today for your help in sending the message to the media and to our judiciary that we can and must improve our system by being open and direct with the facts and working together to develop solutions. Please contact your County Board member or the County Board Chair today and let him know that you support getting tough on convicted felons and pushing Justice Stat as a way to hold ourselves accountable for improvement. (Click here for a County Board Contact List.) You may also respond with a letter to the editor using this link: (Letter to the Editor).
Very truly yours,
Mayor Lawrence J. Morrissey
