First 100 Days in the District Attorney’s Office

Greetings!

I made history when I took office in January, and I plan to continue doing so as I make Philadelphia the safest big city in America. On April 14th, I hosted a “100th Day in Office” breakfast at the Vesper Club, where I updated attendees on our accomplishments and progress since my inauguration. The highlights of that meeting are listed below, and I hope you can take a moment to look them over. I’m very proud of the work we are doing here, and I look forward to making even bigger strides in the months to come.

R. Seth Williams
District Attorney
City of Philadelphia

First 100 Days in the District Attorney’s Office

1. Charging – I have assigned 8 senior attorneys with extensive trial experience to that unit, and it is headed up by an outstanding trial attorney and supervisor with homicide experience.

Tremendous progress has been made in the Charging Unit in a short period of time. Working with the police, we have developed investigative protocols that have led to more thorough police work and higher quality cases. There has been better and more timely communication between the detectives and the Charging Unit ADAs, and this has also improved the quality of the cases and led to more timely arrests, particularly on the most serious crimes. We are meeting with the police on a monthly basis in a Charging Working Group to have an open dialogue about concerns/problems/ideas people want to discuss. We have placed a victim witness coordinator in the Charging Unit to allow for early contact with witnesses/victims. We have begun working more closely with the Probation Department, particularly in giving them same day information about arrests of defendants who are on probation, allowing for prompt lodging of detainers when appropriate.

2. We have reached out to the Courts, Public Defender's Office, and the private defense bar in an unprecedented way in order to make the justice system more fair and effective. We have worked with the courts in establishing an effective Discovery Court, in eliminating unnecessary bench warrants so that the NCIC system is not overburdened with cases that don't belong there, and in getting the Veteran's Court up and running. There are ongoing discussions with the courts concerning police overtime, e-discovery, and in giving defendants an opportunity to plead guilty earlier in the process. We have participated in these discussions with members of the Public Defender's Office and private defense bar.

3. Working with the police, we have continued to reduce court overtime costs, despite the contract provision which allows double time and a half for court notices sent 48 hours or less before the hearing. So far this year, there has been a $3 million reduction in court overtime, nearly a 20 % decrease over last year.

4. We have begun a top to bottom review of our Pretrial Unit in an effort to work towards a more just and efficient system and we have begun to plan the transition to a more paperless system.

5. We have begun to plan for the transition to geographic prosecution. We have had multiple discussions with national experts on the issues we will face in this transition. We have begun gathering data which we will need in deciding how to deploy our personnel.

6. We have begun discussing how to expand the current community court concept to an arraignment based model, with swifter consequences to the defendants and more resources available to deal with the root causes of crime (i.e., drug treatment).

7. We have started a capital case review committee in an attempt to be more thorough in our consideration of the decision to seek the death penalty.

8. Started a procedure on the first day in office to expedite the review of police shootings has been implemented to avoid unnecessary delay in moving ahead with criminal charges or returning a discharging officer to the street. Twenty-two case evaluations have been completed in the first 100 days including the arrest of Officer Frank Tepper.

9. A notification to the next of kin procedure has been implemented in cases involving fatal police shootings.

10. Assisted the Supreme Court in identifying Municipal Court improvements. At the request of the Supreme Court, the Office provided specific recommendations relating to needed changes in court rules and practices that were resulting in the non-merits dismissals of serious cases. Four of our proposals have now been implemented and the Court is reviewing others. This is a collaborative effort involving many people.

11. Created Performance and Policy Division with Sarah Hart as Chief Performance Officer. There is now a Performance Unit tasked with capturing statistical data necessary to assess system, Office and staff performance.

12. Obtained $1/2 million grant from PCCD to update the Office case management technology system and capture performance data. This grant will allow the office to develop key performance indicators, conduct a comprehensive needs assessment of its technological needs, and develop a prototype to capture detailed case management information and produce statistical reports for Office managers. It will also help develop a system that captures essential information from a variety of databases that prosecutors need in a usable form to make better prosecution decisions.

13. Obtained agreement from the National Institute of Justice's Center of Excellence to provide free technical assistance in two areas: (a) implementation of the PCCD technology grant and (b) business process improvement (mapping our current office business flow and recommending ways to improve the operation). This is the beginning step to move the Office towards a paperless case management system.

14. Started systemic case "attrition analysis" where the office selects a random sample of cases filed two years ago to capture information about case processing and the reasons why cases did not result in a merits disposition. Files have been selected and the staff is now developing the data collection instrument. Most of the actual data collection and analysis will be performed over the summer using free summer interns.

15. Obtained agreement from Dr. Richard Berk of the University of Pennsylvania to create a free risk assessment tool to identify the defendants who pose the great risk of committing serious violent crime. Berk did the groundbreaking study for the Probation Department and created a risk assessment tool for assigning resources. The DA's Office will use the risk assessment tool in two ways: (a) to identify the "worst of the worst" for vertical prosecution, and (b) to make sentencing recommendations.

16. Obtained agreement from the Center for Court Innovation (funded by BJA) to provide free technical assistance relating to community-based prosecutions. They are assisting with two specific issues: zone courts and community courts. Specifically, CCI is assisting us in developing an operational plan for zone courts. They also arranged for a team from the office to visit Red Hook and Midtown Community Courts. On April 1, 2010 Ed McCann, Kelly Hodge, Jodi Lobel, Will Stewart and Sarah Hart conducted a site visit. They are exploring whether the office can implement a similar case processing system- pleas at the initial appearance that have resulted in pleas in 75% of the misdemeanors cases within 1 day of arrest. This system would dramatically increase the certainty and swiftness of punishment/treatment. The office will work to have key criminal justice stakeholders consider this type of approach for Philadelphia and seek to obtain funding for a feasibility study/planning grant.

17. Conducted a comprehensive assessment of the Office's financial status. Currently developing an ongoing reporting system where the DA and key management staff will have the financial bi-weekly reports in a readily understandable form. These would provide a current picture of key performance indicators relating to revenue (general fund, forfeiture and grants) and expenditure issues (personnel costs, overtime etc.)

18. Created the "Make Difficult Jobs Easier" Working Group. As part of an ongoing effort to identify and implement employee-driven changes that save staff time and improve performance, this group of line ADAs has started its first project of identifying Frequently Asked Questions and Commonly Used Forms to create an online resource for ADAs on the Office Intranet. They have also identified the high-priority goal of automating the currently labor-intensive court notice process (which takes hours of work a day to hand write these detailed forms.)

19. Consolidated the Grants Application function with the Legislative Unit. In an effort to improve our ability to get essential resources to implement the DA's new policies and programs, we have moved the grant application process under the direction of senior staff with greater expertise in this area.

20. Began process of securing funding and programmatic assistance for Back on Track by engaging with the Lenfest Foundation and Public Private Ventures. Estimates are that the office can provide preentry and reentry training, such as job training and educational assistance, to at least 150 individuals annually who are charged with possession w/intent to deliver cocaine or crack and are subject to a 1 year mandatory minimum.

21. Elected as legislative chair of PA District Attorney's Association. Legislative items at the forefront of lobby efforts include: a) better gun laws, including a mandatory minimum sentence for those convicted carrying an illegal firearm in Philadelphia; b) improving our sexting laws by decreasing the penalties for teens sexting each other from a felony to a misdemeanor; and c) plugging up loopholes in our Megan's Law so that homeless offenders and out of state sex offenders who have moved to PA must abide by the registration requirements.

22. Opened office to our elected officials who play a role in public safety -- meetings with House Judiciary Committee, City Council and city Council staff.

23. Testified before US Senate Crime Subcommittee on the fugitive crisis in Philadelphia.

24. Testified before PA Senate Judiciary Committee in support of SB 99, which would hold parents accountable for illegal acts of their children and help them help themselves.

25. Applied for Congressional earmarks for DART program and secured first-round approval by Specter and Brady.