IOWA STATE CRISIS INTERVENTION PROGRAM (SCIP) ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
Date: January 19, 2023
Location: Virtual at: https://meet.google.com/wwe-gzek-kvg or
dial (US) +1 402-986-3231 PIN: 607 251 260#
Called to Order: January 19, 2023 at 1:04pm
Adjourned: January 19, 2023 at 2:17pm
Voting Members Present: Dale Woolery, Sharon Greer, Nancy Hunt, Terra Kinney, Patrick Coughlin, Dave McDaniel, Nick Maybanks, Katrina Carter, Kevin Gabbert, Jason Feaker, Ryan Moore, Rob Burdess, Diane Venenga, Gabe Schaapveld
Voting Members Absent: Paula Noonan, Steve Michael, Chris Wilson, Vern Armstrong, Warren Hunsberger, Jeff Wright, John Gish, Odell McGhee
ODCP Staff Present: Susie Sher, Dennis Wiggins
Welcome, Introductions, Description of Advisory Board Duties
Director Woolery called the meeting to order and welcomed attendees. Attendees provided introductions. Dale provided an overview of the SCIP Advisory Board duties including creating a framework for the application to BJA and voting to approve the spending plan and budget. Dale also discussed conflicts of interest and advised members that ODCP expects to keep the Board at a high-level advisory level to avoid conflicts. He also asked members to disclose any potential conflicts or abstain from any votes necessary.
SCIP Overview and Process
Dennis provided an overview of the State Crisis Intervention Program, the history of the federal funding, and the program requirements. He talked about the grant application and planning processes as well as how the funding has to be distributed.
Byrne Crisis Intervention Program (SCIP)
SCIP is one of five streams of funding to Iowa through the Safer Communities ACT
- SCIP
- School Safety
- Community-based Violence Interruption CVI
- Juvenile Records
- NCHIP
- SCIP will include five annual appropriations
- 2022/2023 combined award is $2,478,792
- We anticipate three additional awards of approximately $1.2M each
- Program Requirements
- Requires a Crisis Intervention Advisory Board - enforcement, community, courts, prosecution, behavioral health, victim services, & legal counsel.
- State Crisis Intervention Program Plan and Budget
- Subrecipients need to be vetted through BJA
- Evaluation is allowable/not required.
- 40% has to be passed through to local agencies (about 40% of that to small jurisdictions)
- Enhanced accountability/monitoring
Identification of Priorities
Dennis shared slides describing the priorities outlined in the program.
Potential Uses Include:
Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO) - red flag laws
Other including:
- Specialized courts
- Behavioral health deflection
- Gun safety programs
- Mobile crisis
- Behavioral threat assessment
- Technology
- Call centers
- Training
- Gun safety - gun locks/technology/training
Dennis asked the Board to discuss and offer suggestions. The focus of the discussion by the members was on behavioral health.
Jason said the priorities should focus on behavioral health. Several members agreed. Mental health, crisis centers, and co-responder projects are top priorities. Katrina offered jail diversion as another suggestion.
Chief Burdess said “red flag laws” should not be a priority. Given current Iowa law, the funding would not work well to implement extreme risk protection orders. The Advisory Board agreed that red flag laws should be deselected as a priority. Nick, Judge Greer, and Patrick discussed specialty courts. The funding can be used to enhance a current project. Judge Greer offered to look further into this as an option.
Dennis also discussed trigger/gun locks. He said there are other funding sources for these types of things, so this may be something the Board wants to take off the table. Judge Greer offered regional and mobile crisis teams as another option. Nick agreed with that suggestion and also said community programs are something that is working in the Cedar Rapids area and could be an option for consideration.
Members discussed gun seizures and that the number of seizures are up substantially. It’s pretty much expected now during any encounter involving drugs. Gun violence is a youth issue, culture of violence, impulsivity, despair. Majority of gun crimes are persons under age 25, most even under age 20. There is a free-flow of guns coming into Iowa. Cedar Rapids has a gun violence intervention program that has a strong community component. He suggested the GVI model as another option for exploration.
Possible funding priorities identified by the Board:
- Behavioral health
- Crisis centers
- Co-responder projects
- Specialty courts
- Jail diversion
- Mobile crisis units
- Community programs
- Youth diversion programs
- Strengthen our fight against meth
- Gun violence intervention
- Geo-fencing technology
Remove from the priority list:
- “Red flag laws” (extreme risk protection orders)
- Gun/trigger locks
Dennis clarified that the Board will be asked to approve a spending plan and budget annually. He will get started working on the plan. The next step will be for ODCP to bring the plan back to the Board for approval. Dennis mentioned that the Board may still submit more ideas for consideration to ODCP after the meeting.
Other Board Business and Public Comment
No other business was discussed. An opportunity for public comment was provided, but no one offered comments.
Adjourn
Meeting adjourned. Next meeting TBD.
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