I’m leading the review this week with the very best of wishes to Cal Fuller, who after 46 years of service to the Tucson Police Dept and our PCAO Detective unit is retiring. May the road rise up to meet you, Cal.
Nevertheless, this was another week of a million moving parts in the pursuit of justice in our million plus Pima County. Many different components of safety are always at the forefront of our job. This week however, we’ll give you a glimpse into what a few of those components look like.
Highway Safety : the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, tasked fundamentally with keeping *all* roads in Arizona safe, held their annual conference after the COVID-19 hiatus. Folks from our vehicular unit attended along with TPD, PCSO, DPS, and others to study up and tackle the road worries of the day: speeding, seat belts, street racing, and of course DUI. Here at PCAO, we’ve had an uptick in vehicular homicide: DUI, road rage, and high speed crashes that result in the loss of life. I want to highlight Bruce Chalk, Robin Schwartz, Donald Porterfield, Liz Farkas, and the entire Vehicular team for holding accountable those who would forgo the Lyft and Uber options, drive impaired, and put the whole community at risk.
Victim Safety: on Thursday, the Basic Training for volunteer Victim Advocates began. There is no comparison to the training our Victim Services Division can provide. It’s a sold out training, which says more about the good will of Pima County than any words that I can harness here.
Domestic Violence Safety: On Tuesday, AZ State Sen. Victoria Steele gathered a group of us to brainstorm the drafting of a legislative bill that would fill the dangerous gaps that can occur before the issuing of an Order of Protection (a domestic violence restraining order.)
Community Safety: the seeds of prevention continue to blossom. Several of our people began an intensive Intercept Training on Tuesday to work on strategies to divert people out of the system at every single stage where possible.
As this week shows, there is no one solution to #SmartJustice in Pima County. Our agency must take a million steps in a million directions for a million people, all at the same time, if we truly expect new outcomes.
That’s a tall order, but we got this.
To be continued,
Laura
#AZGOHS #PimaCounty #ItTakesAVillage
