Rena Frazier gathered chairs in the sanctuary at Church on the Rock, placing them in an oblong circle.
“We’re having a community conversation,” she said, “instead of a community workshop.”
Frazier, chief of policy and communications for the State Attorney’s Office of the 13th Judicial Circuit, was in Plant City Dec. 14 with State Attorney Andrew Warren for the last of the office’s quarterly community workshops.
The SAO began holding community workshops shortly after Warren took office in January. In Warren’s first year, his office held workshops across Hillsborough County, including stops in East Tampa, Wimauma, the University area and Plant City. Frazier said they’ve had up to 70 people in attendance at workshops and usually stream them live on the SAO Facebook page. The Plant City event had the lowest attendance with about 7 people, prompting the more intimate setting rather than the usual powerpoint presentation. Despite the low turnout, the SAO said the event was still a success.
“We’re happy to talk to one person or a hundred people,” Frazier said. “It’s about opening up a dialogue with the community.”
In addition to updates surrounding the alleged Seminole Heights killer Howell Emanuel Donaldson III, who is suspected of killing four people in the Tampa neighborhood between Oct. 9 and Nov. 14, Warren updated the attendees on some of the programs he’s been working on since taking office. Warren said some of his main priorities include reducing recidivism and keeping non-violent offenders out of the system.
“We don’t want to push people into the system,” Warren said. “We want to steer them from it.”
In August, the SAO introduced a new Juvenile Arrest Avoidance Program. The program allows juvenile offenders to be issued citations
for certain violations instead of being arrested or getting jail time. According to figures from the SAO, it costs $5,000 to prosecute a
juvenile and $55,000 to incarcerate a juvenile for a year. On the other hand, the SAO said it would only cost taxpayers $400 to enroll a juvenile in a civil citation program. Additionally, steering children from the system, Warren said, reduces the chances of them becoming repeat offenders and keeps their records clean for future job prospects.
“The system perpetuates criminal activity. Steering people away from it is better,” Warren said. “For kids, a lot of whom just don’t know any better and people who haven’t been given economic opportunities, we’re far better off addressing the underlying behavior. Putting them in jail could be part of it, but it’s not that simple.”
Warren said his office is also working on a similar program for adult first-time offenders which is currently being developed.
Warren also went over the Disarming Domestic Abusers program, which puts in place safeguards for domestic violence victims and law enforcement officers, he said. The program removes guns from domestic abusers and convicts and “defendants charged with domestic violence after a probable cause determination has been made.” Warren said the program is designed to make victims feel safer and encourage more reporting of domestic violence incidents.
Frazier said Warren will continue to hold more workshops in 2018, improving them based on information the SAO has gathered from past attendees. Many of Warren’s initiatives follow on promises he made while campaigning, Plant City lawyer Ted Taylor said. He thought it was refreshing to see someone follow through after the voting was over.
“Seeing you, hearing you talk about it, I can tell you really are about it,” Taylor said. “It’s not just lip service.”