Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to All In Adams, the official podcast Adams County Government, where we're all in for our residents, our employees, and our community. So whether you live here, work here, or you just want to know more about what makes Adams County a great place to be, thanks for tuning in. We're all in, Adams.
Speaker: Hello and welcome to another episode of All In Adams. My name is Brian Durth. I'm a senior communications specialist with the communications department here at Adams County. Today we'll be talking about the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and I have two guests with me here today. I have the chair, who is also our district attorney for the 17th Judicial District, ah Brian Mason, and the director of the CJCC, Dr. Ashley Loveless. And thank you both for being here with us today. Appreciate your time.
Speaker: And ah the first question, I think we can just start with the basics is, ah um what is the CJCC? Who serves on it and why was it created? And I'll direct that one it at you, DA Mason.
Speaker: So the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council is a collaborative body made up of the leaders from the criminal justice system here in Adams and Broomfield counties.
Speaker: So that includes me as the district attorney. It includes the public defender's office. It includes our our courts. So the chief judge sits on the CJCC. um And then we also have elected officials. So we have a member of the Adams County Board of County Commissioners, of someone from the county staff. We have a representative from the probation department, from the sheriff's office, from our mental health organizations like Community Reach Center, the probation department, all of the folks who are connected somehow to the criminal justice system here in Adams and Broomfield counties. And the criminal justice system is, by its very nature, often adversarial.
Speaker: So someone is charged with a crime. That case proceeds through the court system. You've got different players in the courthouse, including the prosecutor who works for me, the defense attorney or public defender um who's representing the defendant, and a judge who sits in the bench and is overseeing the case.
Speaker: And that, again, is part of the American system of justice, that when someone is charged with a crime, they have due process and they go through um the criminal justice process.
Speaker: The CJCC is made up of those players, but instead of it being adversarial in nature, we are collaborative. So there are certain things that all of the players who play a specific role at the courthouse can nevertheless come together and talk about and try to work together to improve the criminal justice system.
Speaker: And that's ultimately what the CJCC is all about. and And Ashley, um as the as the director, um what are some of the more recent programs, initiatives that you've undertaken and led in your role at the CJCC?
Speaker: Well, I think one of the programs that we've been working on within the CJCC is Warrant Forgiveness. And I think that was an incredible event. We recently added the health department as a partner, and that was that was incredible. um We did an in-person event, and we were able to service 14 people that otherwise may have not partaken in warrant forgiveness.
Speaker: um And I think those that collaboration and that partnership is really important to include all of Adams County in our programs. And, D.A., your office has a big role in the Warrant for Forgiveness Day. Can you kind of explain a little bit what Warrant Forgiveness Day is and then how that came about as an initiative? I think this is a great example of what the CJCC can do to improve the community and to improve the criminal justice system. So lots and lots of people.
Speaker: have warrants for various crimes. Some of them are very low level. They can be traffic tickets or misdemeanors where they forgot their court date and because they didn't show up to court, a warrant was issued. And these aren't folks who need to be in jail or need to be in prison.
Speaker: But nevertheless, they've got these warrants hanging out there, and that can create fear and confusion and sometimes can be a barrier to getting a job. And so we collaboratively, the CJCC, said, let's try to...
Speaker: reduce the number of these outstanding warrants and get them off people's minds and get them off their their backs when we can resolve these cases, and or or at least the the warrant part. And so we planned a warrant for forgiveness day, ah both in person and online.
Speaker: And folks who have an outstanding warrant can come in and not be arrested, um meet with the folks who are there to help process their cases and get the warrants taken off, ah taken off their records. Now,
Speaker: That doesn't apply to somebody who is on the run for a murder case, right? this if Or somebody who's committed a sexual assault. We're not just erasing warrants for dangerous people.
Speaker: But the truth is there are a lot of folks who have just made minor mistakes, sometimes without even realizing that they have a warrant. And this program has allowed us to reduce that number by a lot and give some folks some peace of mind.
Speaker: And that's a yearly event, and I believe you've already had it in 2026, so you're planning on doing it again and in 2027? I think we're up to twice a year now, aren't we, Ashley? Or how often are we doing it? We're still once year. Once a year, There was talk about being twice year. I do think that I get enough emails about warrant forgiveness, and are we doing it again this year? I'm like, no, we concluded it this year, but we'll talk about maybe doing it again twice, or we'll see you again next year.
Speaker: I will say it's just a simple public service announcement that you don't have to have Warrant Forgiveness Day in order to clear your warrant. You can just go to the courthouse and say, I've got a warrant out on this traffic case. I'm here to get this cleared. So you don't you don't need to wait another 10 months before taking care of it. But it is a really nice event and it's helped a lot of people and I'm proud of it. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker: Yeah. And Ashley, can you talk about maybe some current things that you're working on in the CJCC or some future priorities that you you all have planned moving forward? Yeah, I think something that we're working on right now is restorative justice. um The topic has come up multiple times. We're currently working on restorative justice in Diversion, and that's been a wonderful initiative and thing that's going on in Diversion. I recently attended a restorative justice circle with Diversion.
Speaker: And it was an incredible experience. I was like, wow, I didn't realize it could be like this to have everybody come in the room and to discuss the harm that was caused and how to repair that harm.
Speaker: um I think it from a public health perspective or mental health perspective, from a criminal justice perspective, I think it's a. a wonderful concept that we're really seeing take hold um in diversion and doing really well.
Speaker: And we're talking about doing a pilot, maybe expanding and seeing where else we can um engage in restorative justice within the seventeenth And you also have a a public health background. do. And can you kind of talk a little bit about how the the CJCC and like the the health department and other public health initiatives, how those kind of intersect and and how they can kind of promote mo each other basically?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I think public health and criminal justice is deeply intersected, um especially when you think about behavioral health within criminal justice, right?
Speaker: I think that they intersect so deeply um and having that that lens and that experience has been really helpful. um My work has been largely in harm reduction, which has intersected with criminal justice routinely.
Speaker: And so I think that perspective, that trauma-informed lens that I come with um helps me create a lot of ideas of how can i bring my expertise to this role?
Speaker: um One of the things that I've been working on is how can i bring CrossFit into the jail? um And so... We've been having ongoing conversations of what that could look like. I think, you know, CrossFit and especially when it's a peer led CrossFit, right? So folks that have been incarcerated and and know what that's like as a peer support model.
Speaker: um And to bring that into the jail and to get people's mental health going to literally face their own barriers, both mental and physical, I think is an incredible thing. So that's one of things that I've been working on yeah One of the real a purposes of the CJCC is to identify issues that we all agree on and that we all are invested in trying to make improvements in. So mental health is is without question one of those areas. The mental health crisis in this country and in this state disproportionately impacts the criminal justice system.
Speaker: And... We have so many folks who have mental health crises or mental health struggles who end up being charged with and often convicted of a crime. And so our jail is not set up to be a mental health provider or institution, and yet we can't not address the problem. And so this is an area where the DA's office and the public defender's office and the health department and the courts,
Speaker: can come together and say, what can we do about this? And so we've worked on things like a mental health court, and and and Ashley was just talking about things that we can do over at the jail to make the admittedly difficult experience of being in custody in custody somewhat better.
Speaker: and And that's, again, what the CJCC does when we're at our best, is collaborate, problem solve, and try to make our community better. Yeah, that's great. um Do either of you have any, um without mentioning specific instances or names, any success stories that you can share, um you know, of of ways that the CJCC has kind of helped individual people kind of get past a a crisis?
Speaker: Yeah, i remember on Warrant Forgiveness Day, I got there early to set up and um I was like holding the signs, right, for Warrant Forgiveness Day, putting them in the grass, getting things set up. And I had my hands full and this woman just comes darting out of her car.
Speaker: She's like, are you here for warrant forgiveness? And I was like, yes, i I'm here to set up and I'm i'm leading warrant forgiveness. And um I was like, do you need help with something? She's like, yes, I got here early. i wanted to make sure I got my warrant cleared. I i even called the public defender. i I made sure I did everything right. You know, I qualify. And I was like, great, let me get set up and we'll get you going.
Speaker: So she comes in and, you know, she's obviously very nervous. um And she kind of tells me her story. Her husband had passed away and she was just feeling a certain way about it and had committed a crime of, I think, like a low level crime of theft. um And she knew that it was wrong.
Speaker: And she's telling this to me right while she's waiting to be seen. And um she was like, i I deeply regret this. And she's like, so ashamed. And I'm like, but we're here to not engage in shame, right? We're here to get your warrant cleared, see you know what the public defender or the DA's office says. Obviously we can't promise anything. I can't promise anything, but I can sit here and sit here with you. We can eat some muffins and we can we can talk about really anything.
Speaker: um And she was like, I am so grateful for this. She's like, I wanted to be time and I wanted to do everything. Correct. And ultimately, um, her warrant was quashed and she was thrilled. She's like, I feel like I can start over.
Speaker: And she wanted to be able to apply for housing and she wasn't able to apply with an warrant. And so being able to get her into housing as well, because previously she was experiencing homelessness.
Speaker: I think it really is the testament of what something we think might be small, um things that we see daily is something really, really big to someone. I think that's important to acknowledge is that this we might deal with this every day, right? We're dealing with the court system. We deal with cases every day.
Speaker: but folks are out there experiencing homelessness and they do things for reasons that they can't really explain that we can't really explain. um and they usually regret it and it has consequences, but to be able to positively improve someone's life by holding, you know, warrant event for a couple of hours is, don't know, something that just kind of stays in me And i was like, this is important.
Speaker: And that goes back to kind of another role of the CJCC, which, you you know, a lot of people, there are some people in the community that, you know have a built-in distrust of law enforcement, of the court system and things like that. Can ah can you explain kind of what the CJCC's role in kind of building ah public trust is?
Speaker: think one of our... Most important roles, again, is bringing the stakeholders together yeah in a forum where everyone can collaborate and talk to one another and try to problem solve.
Speaker: And in an adversarial system like the criminal justice typically is, coming together and collaborating is rare. and And yet that's what we do at the CJCC.
Speaker: And it's not actually something that most people know about. Most people, when they ask me about my job, um don't always understand what we do at the DA's office. And the cjccc the CJCC becomes even more nuanced and hard to explain. But what I like to tell folks is this is an example of government at its best. It's collaborating amongst different agencies. It's collaborating um with different players yeah in the criminal justice system and trying to make the community a little bit better. Okay. Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, I think it also showcases procedural justice. I think when people are nervous about something, like this is this is this a trap? Is is this goingnna it's going to get me?
Speaker: um And it showcases that we will treat someone fairly. We will hear the case. decide if can this be quashed, can this be dismissed, um do they need to set a new court date. I think when we show them that we mean what we say, it develops trust within the community and so that next year someone might come back.
Speaker: um When I got there, I saw a bunch of folks ah sitting out on the grass And i I was like, i i think these folks might be experiencing homelessness. um Let me go out and talk to them and let them know that we're here. So I go out there and they're like, is this a trap? Are are you sure? I'm like, come on, come back. I've got muffins. I've got all the things for you. I'll get you set up.
Speaker: And I think when you can establish that trust and showcase that we're going to do what we say, so They'll tell their friends, this actually it's actually worked. actually got my warrant forgiven or, you know, these people did what they said they were going to do. I think that really helps build trust as well.
Speaker: and that's That's great. And um before we close, I want to give either of you or both of you a chance to, is there anything else about the CJCC that you want to to let people know or or any of the future plans that the the council has?
Speaker: you know, we're, we always, we, are looking at being innovative and trying to address issues in the criminal justice system. So we're looking at at big topics like the mental health crisis, like um the proliferation of of gun violence in this community, um juvenile violent crime. Those are all areas that the CJCC is looking at and hoping to have an impact on in the future.
Speaker: Yeah, and if there's a community organization out there that's watching this or Seaseless and is interested in working with CJCC, please feel free to reach out. We'd love to hear from you. And for any of those community organizations or people who are interested, with there is a section on the Adams County website for the CJCC. You can get there by going to AdamsCountyCo.gov slash CJCC, and all the information will be there.
Speaker: um So thank you both for being here. i I appreciate your time. And that wraps up another episode of All in Adams. Thanks for listening and watching. That's a wrap for this episode of All In Adams.
Speaker: Thank you for joining us as we explore the people, programs, and the policies that make Adams County a great place to live, work, and thrive. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to subscribe and share with your friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Have a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know.
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