Report 2013-103 Recommendation 13 Responses
Report 2013-103: Armed Persons With Mental Illness: Insufficient Outreach From the Department of Justice and Poor Reporting From Superior Courts Limit the Identification of Armed Persons With Mental Illness (Release Date: October 2013)
Recommendation #13 To: Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino
Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Santa Clara courts should follow the requirements in state law related to how quickly to report individuals to Justice.
6-Month Agency Response
On January 15, 2014, the Court revised the electronic reporting in our case management system so that the Firearm Prohibition for these cases is now reported to the Department of Justice electronically within 24 hours.
- Completion Date: February 2014
- Response Date: April 2014
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented
60-Day Agency Response
In response to recommendation #13: Though we were in full compliance in our reporting to the Department of Justice, we revised procedures to provide better documentation as to the date of mailings by including the date that the Reporting Form BOF4076 was mailed and now update the case management system to make note of the date the form was mailed to Department of Justice. The revised procedures were communicated to staff in the Probate and Guardianship Division and follow-up training was provided by supervisors in those units. This was completed by December 31, 2013. The criminal cases currently report to DOJ with the electronic transmission of the JUS 8715 every 7 days. The court is currently working to revise the electronic reporting in the case management system with the goal of reporting the firearm prohibition for these cases within 2 days.
- Estimated Completion Date: March 31, 2014
- Response Date: January 2014
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
San Bernardino Court has updated its procedures to direct staff to record the date that the court mails its report forms to the Department of Justice (Justice). However, it has not yet included direction to its staff about how quickly to report to Justice in its procedures. Further, on page 24 of our original audit report, the court's district manager acknowledged that information about mental incompetence (which are criminal case findings) was not included in the court's electronic transmissions. The court has since implemented a policy to submit paper reports of such findings. Therefore, the court's efforts to improve its electronic reporting likely would not impact the speed with which it reports information about mental incompetence.
All Recommendations in 2013-103
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.