March was a month that brought us changes in the weather, a Love of Reading, and the recognition of Cesar Chavez Day and Women’s History Month. Your March community newsletter has arrived!
It’s that time of year!!! Nominations for the 2024 Community Safety Awards opened on April 1st.
The goal is to honor everyday citizens who go above and beyond to build true community safety.
What does true community safety look like?
Neighbors helping neighbors
Feeding the community
Providing services and opportunities to youth
Extraordinary acts of kindness or courage
Engaging community members in a cause
Preventing harm before it happens
For this award, the Pima County Attorney is looking for individuals who promote safety outside the realm of law enforcement. Awardees will be notified the week of April 22 and the award ceremony will be held on May 4. The link to the nomination form can be found on our website.
Once again PCAO partnered with TPD, PCSO, the Department of Justice Services, and Connections Solutions (the operator of the Crisis Response Center,) in Tucson to facilitate Crisis Intervention Training. The training was designed to give law enforcement more tools to enhance their de-escalation skills for emergency calls, especially those that involve behavioral health crises. Laura stopped by to talk to the group and answer questions about how our office handles those types of cases. TPD Sgt. Jason Winsky, who is also Laura’s brother has been leading the training sessions for over a decade.
41 officers from TPD, PCSO, UAPD, School Resource Officers, and others devoted an entire week to study the needs of the most vulnerable in our population. The National Alliance on Mental Illness continues to be a strong ally and supporter, and not only did the officers receive training on sad incidents and hands-on practice on how to de-escalate intense situations, but they also heard about the millions of families both locally and nationwide who are grateful for the many lives saved by law enforcement trained in de-escalation tactics.
Laura spoke to the group about PCAO charging methods
TPD Sgt. Jason Winsky and PCAO Director of Speciality Courts Nahrin Jabro
Earlier this month, our dedicated Community Justice Boards (CJB) volunteers attended a training to get updates on processes and procedures. The Community Justice Board is an alternative to the traditional juvenile court process. CJB is an opportunity for community members, youth offenders and victims of crime to get involved in the decision-making process with their cases. Youth and their parents work with Community Justice volunteers to repair the harm caused by crime. This process allows community members from all across Pima County to have an immediate, direct impact on youth while giving them valuable problem-solving, decision-making, and successful life skills.
We’re always looking for more participants, if you’re interested in becoming a Community Justice Board member, please contact Jordi Carvalho via email at jordanna.carvalho@pcao.pima.gov or 520-724-4108.
Congratulations to PCAO Detectives Martin Escobar, Nick Copelin, and Phil Young for completing the AZPOST Frontline Leadership training in Oro Valley.
We are very excited for Detective Alex Montoya, our #2 in the Division, for his upcoming retirement and preparing for his next step in leadership. Thank you, Alex, for all your years of public service!
In honor of the Cesar Chavez holiday that’s also recognized by Pima County our PCAO team participated in the community walk that started at Pueblo High School and ended at Rudy Garcia/Rodeo Park. Cesar Chavez is known as a powerful Civil Rights, Latino, and farm labor leader. He was also a community organizer who fought for social change and equal rights for everyone. We have some beautiful pictures from the event to share. Laura along with other local and County leaders were speakers at the event. More photos from the event can be found at the end of the newsletter.
We honored Women’s History Month here at The People’s Office by reminding the community about the risks that both Pima County Attorney Dennis DeConcini and Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall took when they normalized violent prosecutions that were led by female attorneys. It’s something that wasn’t typically done in that era. We’re working on the next episode of “The People’s Office Podcast,” to feature women who are making a difference in our community.
We also wanted to recognize two milestones of women working in the legal profession. Our own Vicki Otto was elevated to Supervisor of the Domestic Violence Unit after recent years of successful Special Victims and Cold Case sexual assault work. Vicki is a 20-year veteran, and we are pleased to have her expertise in such a demanding role.
And, after 19 years here at PCAO and another 16 years on the bench, Judge Teresa Godoy led her last morning calendar of hearings in Superior Court last week. Congratulations Judge, and may retirement be good to you.
PCAO will be participating in several events to raise awareness for how victims of crime can find resources and support local organizations. Here’s a look at ways you can participate. Note the PCAO event on 4/23 has limited space availability.
We participated in National Slam the Scam Day and throughout the year, we will give you the tools to recognize Social Security-related scams to stop scammers from stealing your money and personal information.
You can always protect your loved ones and others in your community by following these tips:
• Educate them about government imposter scams. Let them know they shouldn’t be embarrassed to report if they shared personal information or suffered a financial loss. It’s important to report the scam as quickly as possible to law enforcement.
• Sharing our Scam Alert fact sheet and helping educate others about how to protect themselves.
Report Social Security-related scams to the Social Security Office of the Inspector General (OIG).
Visit www.ssa.gov/scam for more information
Our last Love of Reading visit was a stop at Rio Vista Elementary. The kids and staff were awesome and so were the beautiful murals on site. It’s a great way to wrap up our initiative while continuing to make connections in our community.
Check out our fantastic group of nine Spring interns who are spending time immersing themselves in the world of all of the things we do at The People’s Office. Alexy, Amira, Clare, Issac, Julius, Krista, Lily, Sophia, and Zoe, made their way through our hallways and we are happy to have you here! The future looks bright!
It was cool to see the most recent copy of The Pima County Bar Association’s monthly “The Writ”. The magazine’s cover photo featured photos of the Young Lawyers Division and showed half a dozen or more of our rising star attorneys. The team was giving back to the community while building long-lasting friendships, it’s something we always strive for at The People’s Office.
Here’s a look at some of the links to social media and podcast messages we shared throughout February.
All Podcast episodes are available here:
https://thepeoplesofficepodcast.podbean.com/
Social Media Posts:
Domestic Violence No More Week
Domestic Violence No More Week 2
International Women’s Day
Ramadan
The PCAO Community Newsletter is published and distributed monthly.
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