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The Deschutes County’s District Attorney Office has been awarded an 18-month, $150,000 grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice to implement its Community Prosecution Program.
The funds are the continuation of a Community Prosecution Planning Grant first awarded to the DA’s office in June 2002. That award enabled the DA’s Office to hire Andrea Shartel as a Deputy District Attorney to oversee the duties of community prosecution outreach. Now that funding has been renewed, Ms. Shartel will continue in the position.
“Being pro-active in the community, working on livability issues, and safety and security, while reducing criminal behavior is something that all district attorney offices should be doing,” District Attorney Michael Dugan stated, “I look forward to having Andrea continue to work in the County’s schools to promote those goals.”
The Community Prosecution Program devised by the DA’s Office is intended to enhance the Safe Schools Alliance, a countywide network of school districts, agencies and community partners. The program’s goal is to reduce school violence by providing education, outreach and coordination with other agencies. The action items currently being planned to achieve this goal are:
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Develop programs aimed at reducing school violence;
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Provide a legal education resource and direct link to the DA’s office for administrators, teachers, students and their families;
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Educate students, teachers and parents about the legal implications of bullying and harassment;
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Educate students and school staff on Oregon’s criminal justice system;
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Maintain and extend a strong working relationship between the DA’s Office and school resource officers; and
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Provide support to schools that cite parents for truancy.
“It is exciting to be able to implement our Community Prosecution Program. We got a good start last year, but this funding will allow us to provide education, outreach and services to schools throughout the County,” explains Shartel.
For more information regarding the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Community Prosecution Program, please contact Andrea Shartel at 330-4694 or email her at andreas@deschutes.org.
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