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We started Domestic Violence Awareness Month by lighting the dome of the Pima County Historic Courthouse in purple and bringing together our partners in public safety from both law enforcement and social service providers who do the work of preventing domestic violence and addressing its effects on victims.
Representatives from Emerge, Boys to Men Tucson, CODAC, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department Domestic Violence Task Force, UAPD, Homicide Survivors and our own PCAO Domestic Violence Unit, our Victim Services Director, and our Chief of Detectives came together to symbolically light the historic dome purple to talk about progress made, including Laura’s first legislative effort: a recently passed law extending the duration of both Emergency Orders of Protection from 24 hours to seven days and Standard Orders of Protection from one year to two.
That new law, which provides significantly more time under protective orders for victims to make the changes needed for the safety of themselves and their families, was passed with the support of PCAO, working with former State Sen. Victoria Steele.
Helping meet community needs is what gives credence to “The People’s Office,” and in October PCAO staff organized a donation drive for Diaper Needs Awareness Week to assist our partners at EMERGE Center Against Domestic Abuse.
In late October, PCAO detectives were part of a multi-agency task force that conducted a roundup of people with outstanding warrants for domestic violence offenses that led to dozens of arrests throughout Pima County.
Below are links to our Victim Services Unit and a couple of the organizations we work with to promote public health and safety in our community. If you would like to join the effort, click below.
https://www.pcao.pima.gov/pcao-divisions/victim-services/
We thought the inaugural Fresh Start Expo in 2021 was something special. And with some 400 formerly incarcerated people visiting the Tucson Convention Center to take advantage of a one-stop event to restore their civil rights, it was!
Then came 2022! In its second year, the Fresh Start Expo drew more than twice that many people to TCC, where judges from every local court, and attorneys and law clerks representing both defense and prosecution were on hand to assist people with regaining their rights after having paid their debt to society.
Laura calls it “the public safety event of the year” in Tucson and, indeed, that’s what it is.
Providing a one-stop shop at the TCC for both services, and to the legal system through every local court, PCAO and the Pima County Public Defender’s Office offered people a chance to take responsibility for the process of paying restitution, restoring rights, and expunging convictions.
The halls of TCC were filled with partner agencies offering all manner of assistance designed to get people back on a productive path and reduce recidivism, helping them support their families and contribute to the community.
More than 200 people were served in our informal, comfortable courthouse.
Judges representing Pima County Superior Court assisted 22 people at the event, while Pima County Consolidated Justice Court assisted 69 and Tucson City Court another 32 people looking to restart their lives. Others will be served in the weeks to come.
We were honored to join Fresh Start founder Dr. Da’Mond Holt in promoting and participating in this amazing annual event that we are certain will continue to grow and make a difference.
After launching the overdose prevention campaign “Make the Call” with a news conference and premier of public service announcements in September, we put it onto the streets of Tucson in October.
Through a generous gesture of partnership, Sun Tran placed posters promoting the community call to action inside 190 Sun Tran buses to expand the reach of the campaign designed to save lives amid a tragic spike in drug overdose deaths.
The campaign, which features County Attorney Laura Conover with Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos and Tucson Police Chief Chad Kasmar, serves to inform the people of Pima County that Arizona’s Good Samaritan Law protects them from arrest and prosecution for personal possession of drugs and paraphernalia if they call for help when witnessing an apparent overdose.
Because every second counts in an overdose situation, we need people to not hesitate to call 911 when they are seeing someone overdose.
The campaign also encourages people to pick up free doses of Narcan, a nasal spray that can reverse the effects of opioid narcotics such as fentanyl. Narcan can save a life during an overdose and will cause no harm if given to someone not experiencing an opioid overdose.
Narcan is available at locations throughout Pima County that can be found at pimahelpline.org. Please make it a part of your home first-aid kit.
We are extremely grateful to Sun Tran’s Cindy Glysson, Leah Durain and Wilma Hernandez for providing the opportunity to share this critical message with bus riders through posters in both English and Spanish.
The PCAO Community Newsletter is published and distributed monthly.
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